Burning the Sky on Broken Wings
by Obsidian Buterfly
Summary: The one where Loki uses his brain, magic and the Tesseract to counter Thanos at the start of Infinity War aka the one where Loki is not an idiot. Warnings: Post-Thor Ragnarok. Not Avengers Infinity War or Endgame compliant. AU/Fix-it fic of sorts. Unreliable Narrator. Brodinson feels
1. The Beginning of the End

**A/N: This fic was inspired by a post I saw on Tumblr that poked holes in the Infinity War and Endgame plot is my attempt at fixing some of those holes by following the logic established in earlier movies and just a tiny part from the comics. Also, Loki lives because he is a badass magic user and not an idiot with a butterknife.**

**Now without further ado, enjoy~**

The vast expanse of space stretched out before them as Loki came to join his brother at the viewing bay. His gut no longer twisted at the thought of once again calling the oaf his brother. Loki had spent a millennium with the idiot. Despite not being related by blood they _had_ been brought up as siblings and Loki could finally admit it to himself. Odin may have damaged their relationship with his lies but that was one crime Thor had had no part in. And yet, for years, Loki had taken his anger out on Thor, pushing him away and rebuffing any attempts he made to reconnect with Loki. Loki had pushed and pushed and pushed and on Sakaar, Thor seemed to have finally reached his limit.

Loki had refused to examine his feelings on the matter until Thor had oh so magnanimously decided to give Loki what the idiot thought he wanted and given up. Which was problematic for Loki because he _wanted_ the idiot to keep on chasing him. He _wanted _to hear Thor declare them brothers for all eternity. He _needed_ Thor to repeatedly tell him that nothing had changed between them. Because Thor was the eternal optimist. This was not how being brothers worked.

_I suppose I will have to remind Thor that he is not allowed to give up,_ Loki had decided. Besides, he still needed to pay Thor back for leaving him behind, convulsing under the effects of the obedience disk. _That had hurt. _Never mind the fact that the electric shock hadn't been that strong and Loki had suffered worst injuries over the ages. The pain had been nothing compared to what he'd been put through in the year under the Mad Titan's control but that was beside the point. The point was the Thor left him behind! Thor had seen what the Grandmaster had done to his 'cousin' with the melt stick. Did the idiot even think about what the man would have done to Loki had he found him?

Of course not. In spite of Thor's claims of having grown wiser, his oaf of a brother had not thought through the consequences of his actions. He'd only sought to get even with Loki for his 'perceived' betrayal. The fact that Loki might have been planning on giving Thor up to the Grandmaster was, once again, beside the point. He'd only been trying to save the idiot's life. Facing Hela without Mjolnir and no control over his abilities, Thor had been headed straight into death's jaws. Hela, the goddess of Death who had singlehandedly defeated the entirety of the Valkyrior and torn through Asgard's warriors as though they were nothing more than untrained Midgardians. Loki was certain he would have been able to convince the Grandmaster to keep Thor alive and once enough time had passed, Loki would have found a way to get Thor his freedom. Instead, Thor had decided to yet again derail Loki's plan. And fine, maybe Loki was a little annoyed that Thor had managed to pull one over him.

But in what realm was going off to fight the literal goddess of Death with only the Hulk and Valkyrie by his side enough back up?

In the end, Loki had had to do all the hard work and bring the _actual _help. And the means to escape Asgard. As usual. If Loki hadn't thought ahead and brought the ship to evacuate the civilians, there was no way Thor's insane plan to have Hela and Surtur destroy each other would have worked.

So really, Thor would be quite lost without Loki by his side. Which was the major reason why Loki was sticking around. He was, obviously, the brains of the duo and really, he only wanted what was best for their people. The people of Asgard had adored him as he had ruled over them as a benevolent king. He may have gone a little overboard with the promotion of arts and cultures in place of military funding but the people had been happy and Asgard had been prospering before Hela decided to escape from her prison and kill everyone. Besides, Loki had been trying to arrange treaties with the other realms which would have, had he succeeded, been a good way to counter the growing threat that was Thanos. It was a tragedy that Asgard had been destroyed before he could have made things official.

However, what was done was done and Loki needed to focus his energies on the future and their long term plans. The Statesman's course had already been set for Midgard, or Earth as Thor seemed to prefer calling it now, and Loki was a little worried about how the people on that backwater planet would react to a ship full of Asgardian refugees. Not to mention Loki himself. Last he'd checked, they still believed him to be dead.

Without tearing his gaze away from the starry sky outside the window, Loki broke the silence. "Do you really think it's a good idea to go back to earth?"

Thor glanced at him. "Yes of course. The people of earth love me. I'm very popular."

_Yes of course. Rub that in my face why don't you brother? _Biting the inside of his cheek, Loki wisely kept that thought to himself. "Let me rephrase that. Do you really think it's a good idea to bring _me _back to earth?"

"Probably not, to be honest." Thor admitted and Loki couldn't help but smile, not at the response itself but the optimistic tone in which Thor had spoken. Loki used to find it annoying once upon a time but having spent the last few weeks in the company of a Thor who seemed to have lost all hope, it was a relief to hear his brother speak the way he used to. "I wouldn't worry brother. I feel like everything is going to work out fine."

Loki dared allow himself to feel hope. Thor's optimism was infectious and for once, Loki wasn't opposed to sharing in his brother's sentiments. Their realm may have been destroyed but their people were still there. Thor would lead them to Earth and there, they would begin anew, with Loki by his side. Smiling to himself, Loki looked on ahead to the stars.

Which was when everything went wrong. The space before them warped as a jump point activated and out came a ship Loki had hoped never to see again. The fluttering of hope turned to shards of ice in his chest as the Sanctuary II rose above the Statesman. Blades of steel wrapped around his heart and found himself unable to draw a proper breath. The beginning of panic clawing up his throat made it hard for him to think. He was paralyzed, rooted to the spot as phantom hooks tore into his flesh. They peeled back his skin to expose what lay beneath as burning acid was poured on him and then he was screaming and screaming and begging and oh Norns please no. Save me. Save me! Don't let me be unmade. Thor, brother, please. Mother. Father. Heimdall! Anyone. Someone please save me. Savemesavemesavem—

"Thor!" Valkyrie's voice pierced the veil of terror that had settled over Loki's mind, drawing him back to the present. Loki pushed back the panic, forcing himself to breath and tamp down on the fear that the ship looming above them invoked. He turned with his brother to face Valkyrie, surprised to see that her face was nearly as pale as the armor she wore. "We need to evacuate, now!"

Thor frowned. "Is there something wrong with the ship?"

"There will be as soon as we're boarded." Valkyrie nodded at the Sanctuary II and Thor glanced back at the behemoth of a ship that was nearly upon them.

"Who are they? Pirates? Ravagers?"

"You really don't know who that ship belongs to?" For a moment, Valkyrie appeared to be shocked at his brother's ignorance. It was a novelty that had worn off for Loki long ago. Thor only ever paid attention to things that caught his interest. The Mad Titan, had not been one of those things. _And whose fault is that?_ A voice hissed in Loki's mind that sounded just like Odin's. _Maybe if you had told him the truth about what happened after you fell, Thor wouldn't have—_

_Wouldn't have what? _Loki snarled back. _He would have seen me as a weakling who couldn't even last a year under torture. He would have laughed at me with Sif and the Warrior's Three. They never saw me as a real warrior. Telling Thor about Thanos would only have cemented in their minds that I am not a warrior._

"That is the Sanctuary II, stronghold of the Mad Titan, Thanos." Loki wasn't even aware he'd spoken until both Thor and Valkyrie had shifted their attention on him.

"How would you know that?" Valkyrie's gaze had turned accusing. Loki had no doubt, some of the other warriors had been filling her head with tales of his treachery.

"I had the pleasure of spending some time on board that ship after I fell from the Bifrost," Loki replied, keeping his eyes fixed on Valkyrie and very carefully not looking at Thor.

"After you fell from the— Loki, was this Mad Titan the one who gave you the Chitauri and the scepter?"

Loki ignored Thor's question, watching the way understanding softened the harshness in Valkyrie's eyes.

"Never mind that now, Thor. Valkyrie is right." Loki moved away from the viewport, walking the way Valkyrie had come. "We need to evacuate. Preferably before the Black Order and the Outriders begin boarding our ship."

"Surely, we can fight them." Thor insisted as he joined Loki as they moved to the cargo hold where most of the Asgardian families had taken shelter.

"Only if you want us all to die," Valkyrie said. "Setting the Statesman to self-destruct would be faster."

If Thanos had personally come, it only meant one thing. Word of Asgard's destruction must have reached him and now that the Tesseract was no longer hidden behind powerful defenses, the Mad Titan had come to lay claim on his prize. And if he managed to deliver his brand of 'balance' along the way, all the better for him. It wouldn't matter to him that more than two thirds of the Asgardian population had already perished at Hela's hands. He would still kill half of those on board. And if he saw the two princes of Asgard in one place, Loki had no doubt that Thanos would kill one of them. Well too bad for Thanos, but losing his own life or Thor was not an option for Loki. And losing another fifty percent of his people was… Loki refused to let that happen.

"How many escape vessels do we have?" Loki asked.

Valkyrie's answering tone was grim. "Not enough."

Ice crept up his spine as the beginnings of panic set in. He couldn't draw in a deep enough breath past the barbed wires wrapped around his lungs as Thanos loomed above him. Ebony Maw held down Loki as the remaining Black Order tore through the Asgardians. At the Mad Titan's feet lay Thor, silent and unmoving in death.

"Even if we did have enough pods to get everyone to earth, Thanos would have shot down half of them before they made it to the jump point," Valkyrie said, shattering the waking nightmare that had enveloped Loki's vision and he forced himself to focus on the sound of her voice. What she said was true. Evacuating via escape pods would still condemn half of the surviving Asgardians. But there was still time. The Sanctuary II was not yet in boarding distance of the Statesman so Loki could still do something to save his people.

"In that case, I say we stand and fight," Thor declared. "Surely this Mad Titan has never faced the might of Asgard's finest."

"Asgard's finest won't be enough to defeat him," Valkyrie said and Loki was suddenly very glad to have her there. Coming from him, Loki was certain, Thor would have dismissed the warning and insisted on fighting Thanos head on. But coming from a Valkyrie… that changed things. And if it stung a little to see the alarm finally register on his brother's face at Valkyrie's words, Loki tried not to let that bother him. Really. After centuries of having his advice disregarded unless it suited Thor, Loki should be used to the oaf listening to everyone else but him. _I was a fool to believe things would be different._

Pushing aside the hurt, Loki focused instead on the problem at hand and the bare bones of a plan began to form in his mind. To make it work, however, he would have to reveal his hand and lay most of his cards down.

_Thor won't be happy about this. _Just then the Sanctuary II opened fire, rocking the ship and nearly sending Loki crashing to the ground. In the cargo hold, someone let out a scream and the children began to cry. _Never mind Thor. I need to act._

Loki grabbed hold of the wall to steady himself as another shot shook the Statesman and turned to his companions. "I have an idea but I'm warning you now, Thor. Don't be alarmed."

"Loki, what did you do?" Thor stopped just before they entered the cargo hold, forcing Loki and Valkyrie to stop with him. "Did you bring this Mad Titan upon us?"

"Always so quick to jump to conclusions, Thor."

"After everything you've done, Brother, can you really blame me?"

_After everything I've done? What about everything that you've done? _Loki gave Thor a bland smile, refusing to let his bitterness show. "My mistake for thinking you knew me better. I meant that I have something that will help us save our people." Ignoring the way Thor's expression transformed to that of a kicked puppy, Loki held out his hand and reached for the Tesseract stored away in his pocket dimension.

Thor looked between Loki and Tesseract. When he spoke, he sounded equal parts resigned and exasperated. "You… really are the worst brother."

"Yes well, I couldn't let a priceless artifact be destroyed with Asgard." Loki doubted even the destruction of Asgard could have damaged a stone that had survived the creation of the universe itself but Thor didn't need to know that.

As soon as word of Asgard's destruction got out, scavengers from all over the universe would have flocked towards the rubble to collect whatever they could get their hands on. So Loki had done the sensible thing and grabbed everything out of the vault that he could safely move to his pocket dimension. If left behind, sooner or later, the Tesseract would have found its way to Thanos. So Loki took it first.

"Banter later, plan now," Valkyrie interrupted before Thor could say something disparaging and they both sobered.

"The plan is actually quite simple," Loki shrugged, as he walked into the cargo hold and looked around for a suitable spot to set up a portal, "we launch the escape pods towards the jump point as decoys, Thor and the warriors fight and hold off Thanos's forces while I evacuate everyone to Earth through the Tesseract."

Thor was immediately swarmed by the Asgardian citizens, though Valkyrie followed after Loki as he headed for the back of the hold. After the initial two attacks, things had fallen silent which meant that they had been warning shots. But the lull in attacks meant Loki had more time to set everything up.

"And what of Ebony Maw?" she quirked a brow when Loki glanced her way. The set to her jaw led Loki to believe that she might have had a closer encounter with the Mad Titan than he had initially suspected. "Surely he will be able to sense that the escape pods are empty."

Now that he wasn't half-mad, starving and severely debilitated from spending an eternity trapped inside the void, Loki was confident his spells would be more than a match for Ebony Maw's abilities. This would be nothing like the last time. "Don't worry about that. I have something to keep him from suspecting anything."

-0-

Halfway through the actual evacuation, the Statesman's shields were breached. As soon as that happened, they launched the decoy escape pods. Valkyrie along with a few volunteers had chosen to pilot the vessels towards the jump point to keep up the ruse. The volunteers had all known that only half of the pods would ever make it through but Loki truly hoped Valkyrie's was one of the ones that made it.

The alarms blared in warning every time a new chunk of the Statesman was blown into space as shots from Thanos's ship continued. In a moment of brilliance, Thor had suggested they send out a call for help to make their plight seem more authentic. And then he'd taken the warriors, gladiators and the Hulk with him to hold off Thanos and his Black Order. Loki hoped the green beast and Heimdall would be enough to keep Thor alive while Loki evacuated everyone. It would be a pity if his brother died before Loki had a chance to get him back for the obedience disk attack on Sakaar.

Three quarters of the refugees had already made it and the remaining three hundred women and children were quickly filing through the portal to Midgard. Another explosion rocked the Statesman and Loki grit his teeth, splitting his focus in keeping the portal stable and shielding everyone inside the cargo hold. His illusions in the evacuation pods had worked well enough to fool Ebony Maw's psychic probing which was the only reason the Black Order hadn't already torn through the ship to reach them yet.

Unfortunately, while shielding himself and a few others from psychic probes or Heimdall's gaze was something Loki could do in his sleep, keeping people upwards of a thousand completely hidden from discovery was the limit of his abilities. Still, their people were relying on him and Loki refused to let all of their efforts and sacrifices in the past few days be in vain, so Loki poured more seidr into his spells. Ignoring the blood dribbling down his nose, Loki leant against a wall and reminded himself that he only needed to hold on for another minute. His people were almost through.

His head pounded like something awful and Loki could feel himself sliding to the floor. Still he channeled the Tesseract to maintain the portal and motioned for Miek and Korg to slip through once the last of the Asgardians had fled. Wiping off the blood with the back of his hand, Loki let the portal collapse behind the two gladiators. The Tesseract was neither warm nor cold in the palm of his hand as Loki lifted the cube up to his eye level. Such an innocent looking thing and yet it held one of the fundamental forces of the universe inside it. He aborted the motion of dismissing the Tesseract to his pocket dimension halfway as an idea came to him. Letting it rematerialize in his hand, Loki set it down on the floor and drew a series of runic symbols around it with his blood. Channeling seidr into the runes, Loki set the deadman's spell on the Space Stone before finally banishing it to his pocket dimension.

_There. Now no one but me can get it._

Pushing off the ground, Loki staggered off in search of his brother. His seidr was nearly depleted and dark spots swam in his vision so Loki thought he could be excused for not cloaking himself. He remembered to cast the spell moments before he stepped into the secondary cargo hold where Thor and the volunteers had chosen to make their last stand against Thanos. The spell he cast was rather weak but with all the commotion, Loki didn't think he would be noticed before he managed to draw energy from all the chaos unfolding before him. The sight that greeted Loki was nothing short of equal parts chilling and awe inspiring.

Thor stood amidst a mound of Outriders, lightning crackling all over his body that split and arched at any Outrider that came close enough. Thanos stood off to one side, watching with the air of a benevolent parent as Ebony Maw and Corvus Glaive cut through the Asgardian Warriors and Sakaaran Gladiators. Heimdall held off Proxima Midnight as he watched Thor's back and the Hulk was thrashing around with Cull Obsidian, knocking down walls and support beams as they wrestled.

Knowing that his mind was still shielded and thus his presence undetected, Loki pushed back on his exhaustion as he stalked closer to Maw. He had kept score of every mental violation he had suffered under Maw and the time had come to pay the creature back in full. Readying a spell that he had imagined using on Maw a thousand times, Loki drew closer. Seidr twisted under his will as Loki drew energy from the chaos and created the curse that would be Ebony Maw's undoing. Once ready, Loki aimed it at his intended target and let go. A fraction of a second before the spell could connect, Maw summoned a sheet of metal between him and the curse, smirking in derision as he searched for Loki. "I know you're here, Asgardian."

His smirk turned to a frown when instead of dissipating, Loki's curse crackled across the surface of the metal and started coalescing into a singularity on the other side. Time slowed down as Maw banished the sheet back at Loki, having finally located him as the cloaking spell failed, and the singularity curse shot at Maw's heart. Loki smirked when the curse connected and burst into tendrils of poisonous green energy that wrapped around Maw's torso and sank beneath his skin. He was still smirking as metal sheet struck Loki in the chest and sent him flying through the air to land right at Thanos's feet.

Loki blinked out the spots from his vision and struggled back to his feet, swaying dangerously from vertigo. To his mounting horror, Thanos smiled at Loki and grabbed hold of his neck. Before he could summon a dagger to stab into the Titan's hand, Loki was hoisted into the air as though he weighed nothing and turned around so that he had a good view of the ongoing fight in the cargo hold.

"I applaud your efforts to save your people, Little Prince." Thanos murmured in his ear, holding Loki in a way so that he had no choice but to watch as the Black Order slaughtered the fighters. Thor's lightning quickly disposed of the Outriders that came at him but the swarm was relentless in its attack. Thor was waist deep in Outrider corpses and more kept on coming. Heimdall was doing his best to defend Thor's unprotected back from Proxima Midnight and hear deadly spear. "Half of them still perished in the cold of space to maintain the balance. Now tell me, since I can only let one of you live, who's life will you choose to spare? Your brother's or your own?"

Loki froze in his attempts to break free from the Titan's hold as his worst fear was confirmed. _No..._

"Don't be ashamed. I know what it's like to lose, to fear so desperately for your life," Thanos continued to whisper, "It's a frightening thing and you dread it. You've run from it all these years. Destiny arrives all the same, and now that it's here..." Thanos paused and the part of Loki that wasn't half-petrified to death wondered why Thanos felt the need to be so dramatic. "Or should I say I am?"

Thanos held up the hand in which he wore the infinity gauntlet, showing off a gleaming purple gemstone set in place on a knuckle and it took Loki a moment to identify it as the Power Stone. Loki lost the ability to breathe as he realized that Thanos had the most dangerous of the six stones.

"Where is the Tesseract?"

Loki hated feeling so weak in face of the Mad Titan that he couldn't even break free. Hated the way fear curdled in his stomach, paralyzing him in place. Hated how all his planning and scheming came to a halt when faced with Thanos. The Mad Titan had unmade him once before. Torn through all his walls and defenses, shattered what had remained of his sanity and broken him. And then, when Loki had been brought to his lowest, Thanos had sent him to Midgard as a lackey to do his bidding.

The small part of him that had survived the Mad Titan had ensured that Loki created a plan of attack so full of flaws, even a backwater planet like Midgard could defend itself against it. So in a way Loki was the one who brought together the 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' for all the good that did when they destroyed themselves with petty infighting. Loki let himself be branded a villain and a madman just so he could piece back the shattered pieces of himself into a semblance of who he used to be. But there were so many parts of him that were broken beyond repair. So many cracks that still remained. How easy would it be now for Thanos to peel away all those layers and break who Loki was once again?

Growing impatient with his silence, Thanos pressed the Power Stone against Loki's head and Loki lost control of the energy he had been gathering from the chaos to turn to seidr as agony exploded through his skull. He thrashed in the titan's hold, tasting blood at the back of his throat as he bit down on his cheek to keep from screaming. Thanos dug the stone deeper into his flesh and the purple burned through his skin and bones, reaching down to set his brain aflame.

Loki screamed.

By the time Thanos let up and Loki could gasp for breath, he could hear Thor screaming his name. The sound of fighting had nearly died down as Loki blinked the tears out of his eyes, searching for his brother amongst the bodies that littered the cargo hold. He found Thor on his knees, forced into position by the multitudes of metal bars wrapped around his torso and chaining him to the floor. Three feet away lay Heimdall, his golden eyes unseeing in death as Proxima Midnights spear was buried deep in his chest. The woman in question was missing an arm that lay next to Heimdall's sword.

"You will pay for that!" Thor yelled as he struggled against the bars. The metal groaned as Thor slowly began to rise to his feet. That is, until Maw twisted more of the ship's support beams to force Thor back. "Let him go! Loki! Let my brother go!"

The hulk roared in victory in another part of the ship though Loki doubted anyone else could tell the difference.

"I won't ask again, Little Prince. Where is the Tesseract?"

"It was destroyed along with Asgard," Thor said when Loki stubbornly refused to answer.

"Is that so?"

Loki remained mute, focusing inwards to take stock of his seidr. He'd only gathered enough to create one portal. He wouldn't be able to fight off Thanos and his children, get to Thor and— agony exploded through his skull yet again as Thanos pressed the Power Stone against Loki's temple. Loki screamed and screamed until he was sinking into blissful oblivion.

Cold, psychic fingers wrenched him back to the waking world and Loki gasped for breath. Half of his face felt on fire as Loki pushed off the ground on trembling arms. The stench of ozone and charred flesh was so strong in the air that he nearly gagged. A glance to the right showed Ebony Maw sporting gruesome lightning burns across his arms and neck and although Thor was nearly mummified and gagged with twisted metal Loki couldn't help but smirk at Maw. Loki's curse had taken root and now regardless of what Maw did, he would be dead in less than two days. Something shifted in the shadows and Loki tried to see what it was out of the corner of his eye.

"If you will not speak for your own sake, perhaps you will for your brother." Thanos mused, drawing his attention back to the Titan and a jolt of fear shot through Loki's chest. _No!_

"Wait..." Loki croaked as the shadows shifted again. "Wait. There's something you need... Need to know."

"Then you have an answer for me?"

"No, but we do have a Hulk."

Right on cue, the roaring green beast exploded from the shadows and straight for Thanos. As the two fought and the Black Order shifted restlessly on whether to intervene or not, Loki reached for the pocket dimension and took a quick stock of the artifacts in his inventory. Just as Thanos began to gain the upper hand against the Hulk, Loki came to a decision. Loath as he was to rely on it, Loki summoned the Casket of Ancient Winters to his hands and unleashed the storm contained within onto Thanos and his children.

With Thanos possessing the Power Stone, Loki knew he only had mere moments before the Titan would be free of thirty foot solid block of ice so he needed to act fast. Switching the Casket with the Tesseract, Loki tried not to think of the unnatural blue hands that held the Space Stone. With his seidr as depleted as it was, Loki did not think he could maintain the portal long enough for them to safely reach Earth, so instead Loki focused on the secret moon that was halfway to there. Summoning the portal directly behind Thor, he slid it across the ground until the portal swallowed his brother and then insensate Hulk. Cracks began to emerge in the ice around Thanos as Loki summoned the portal to himself. Blood dribbled down his nose and darkness danced across his vision as Loki strengthened his hold on the Tesseract.

Moments before Loki was swallowed by the portal, the ice shattered and he saw the furious Titan racing towards him. So Loki did the sensible thing and mimed a rude hand gesture that had originated on Midgard but was now used across the cosmos. "You will never be a god."

And then the portal swallowed him whole and Loki was falling and falling into darkness.


	2. Blacking Out

**_A/N: Brodinson feels ahead. Also, slightly graphic descriptions of torture in the beginning passages so if you're squeamish about that sorta thing, skip all the way to the last italicized line which starts with "…Eir were here." And read on from there._**

_—oki_

The Space Stone shone bright in Thanos's gauntlet and the knife Loki had aimed for the Titan's throat froze inches before reaching its target. Loki was petrified in fear as The Mad Titan grinned and grabbed him by the throat, effortlessly lifting him into the air. Around them, the statesman burned, and in death, Heimdall's sightless gaze turned on the wreckage of what little had remained of their home.

_Brothe—_

Banner had been sent away to Norns knew where. Ebony Maw had Thor trapped in metal beams, his screams muffled by the gag around his mouth and for once, Loki had no clever trick, no last minute plan to save them. Thanos squeezed his throat and the knife fell from Loki's nerveless fingers.

_Lok—_

His lungs burned with the need to breathe as Thanos strangled him. A choked gurgle escaped Loki's lips as the pressure increased and the world faded. Loki fell away into the darkness. Eldritch horrors from the void between worlds reached out for him with their gaping maws. Adorned with far too many teeth, they swallowed him whole. Their poisonous breath seared the flesh from his bones, tearing into his soul, wrenching it to pieces.

_Please…I'm begging you…_

He fell through the Yggdrasil, through the nine realms until he was tangled in the roots of the world tree. And then, when he was truly immobilized, demons descended upon him with knives they scored from his bones. They sliced him apart and put him back together only to repeat it all over again until agony was all he knew. It was only when he started having trouble recalling his own name that the Mad Titan approached, smiling at the handiwork of his children.

_Wake up._

Wake up? He _was_ awake. How he wished he wasn't but he was. He _was_. The demons had grown bored with the knives and his screams so they sewed his lips together using seidr and dwarven thread. Then they brought out the fire, relishing in the way he lurched in his bindings as they pressed scorching brands into his flesh, his cries frozen in his throat.

_—oki!_ _This isn't funny..._

Oh really? He hadn't noticed. He was in agony and Norns he wanted to die. They had moved on from the brands to something more inventive because he wasn't yet broken to the Mad Titan's liking. They pumped him full of drugs that turned his blood to acid and burned him from the inside out. Drugs that brought his worst nightmares to life though what could they possibly bring forth when his entire existence was a never-ending nightmare? Drugs that left him puking and convulsing for hours and when he surrendered to the sweet release of oblivion, they gave him drugs that brought him back, only to begin again.

_Loki! Brother, I swear on Father's name if you don't—_

...Thor? That was Thor! His brother had finally heard his pleas. He came! He'd come for Loki. Thor, please, I don't want to be alone. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ruined your coronation. I'm sorry I tried to destroy Jotunheim. I'm sorry I let go. I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I don't want to be alone. Save me, please! Savemesavemesavem—

_I don't understand. There is nothing physically wrong with him. _

That wasn't Thor so who...? Of course. Why would the All-Father send his true son to retrieve his pet Frost Giant? Loki was dispensable. Why would he think that Thor would come? The All-Father would never risk his precious heir for a stolen relic that had outlived its purpose. Bitterness welled up in his chest, spreading like poison through his veins though Loki refused to cry.

_…Eir were here. She was the Royal Medic who treated Loki on Asgard, you know. She would…_

Loki also refused to believe that it was Thor's voice he heard as he gave in to the call of darkness and drifted off.

It was quiet the next time his consciousness returned. He groaned, struggling to crack open eyelids that were weighed down by lead. Something heavy rested on his chest and when he finally succeeded in opening his eyes, the weight resolved into a fleshy blob. Blinking a few times brought the world into focus and realized that it was Thor's arm, clutching at him as his oafish brother slept, his other hand gripping tightly on Loki's wrist. It was almost as though Thor was afraid Loki might float away if he did not hold on strongly enough.

Something like a smile cracked across Loki's lips as he watched his brother sleep. He smoothed his expression when there was a knock on the door but it slid open before Loki could give them permission to enter. Banner walked inside, bearing a tray loaded with food.

"Oh, you're finally awake," Banner said just when Loki's stomach rumbled in a manner reminiscent of Volstagg. Heat rose to Loki's cheeks as Thor began to stir.

"How long has it been?" Loki asked, glancing around the cottage on Sarab, a moon orbiting a binary star system halfway to Midgard. Loki had discovered the distant moon during one of his trips through the dark paths. The people of Sarab were used to the occasional alien making landfall though they personally did not seem to possess interstellar technology nor were they interested in acquiring any. After sending Odin to Midgard as an old man, Loki had purchased a cottage on Sarab's northern hemisphere and hired some locals to keep it fully stocked with food and other basic amenities all year round. Mostly because Loki like having contingency plans and seeing how no one on Asgard even knew about the little moon, Loki had felt confident about using it as a secret base of operations slash hideout in case things went south. Which they had, just not in the way Loki had been expecting.

So it was this little cottage Loki had thought of when he'd conjured the last portal out of the Statesman as Thanos had lain waste to everything. The cottage was also stocked with a fully updated library, one that Loki had bespelled to have copies of everything he possessed in his chambers on Asgard. So even though the originals might have been destroyed along with Asgard, Loki still had access to his personal collection here on Sarab.

"It's a little hard to estimate the passage of time with the dual sunrises and sunsets but I would say it has been somewhere around four to five days since we escaped."

Which translated to around seven days of Asgard's time. Thor chose that moment to awaken, keeping Loki from contemplating the implications of staying asleep for a week.

"Loki! You're awake!" He exclaimed.

"An astute observation, Thor."

"You were asleep for so long that I worried..." Thor trailed off before clearing his throat to try again. "I was afraid that you may not awaken again."

"Just a bit of magical exhaustion, Brother." Loki said, carefully trying to extricate his fingers from Thor's grasp, secretly pleased when Thor refused to let go. With a huff, he crossed his arms and looked to Banner, a tiny flutter of something like giddiness blossoming in his chest when Thor tightened his grip. "There is no need to be so dramatic, Thor. I only overexerted myself a little. I've never had cause to shield upwards a thousand people from psychic probing while maintaining a portal across such vast distances that is all."

"That is _all_?" Thor's voice rose with each word and Loki flinched, momentarily wondering if the oaf's usual violence would follow. "That is all, he says. Loki, this is twice that you've saved our people in less than a week. First with having the forethought to bring the Statesman to Asgard and now with— Brother, I know I haven't said this to you often enough— no— I haven't said it to you at all, lately, but I am sorry."

Loki turned back so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash. "I bed your pardon?"

"I am sorry I haven't been a good brother to you." Thor said, his expression earnest. Banner mumbled a half excuse before setting the food down next to Thor and retreating. All the while, Loki felt like he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. Thor was sorry? _Thor_ was sorry? And also, Thor was _sorry?_ "I am sorry that I took father's word and did not investigate deeper as to what led you to that moment upon the shattered Bifrost where you felt the need to let go. He was our father and he did grieve for you, but we've both seen proof in Hela that father doesn't seem to have the best track record when it comes to being a good parent. I never—"

"Is this a dream?" Loki cut off Thor's rambling. Since when did _Thor_ of all people speak against Odin?

"What? Loki, no this is not—"

"Am I dead, then?"

"No!" Thor stood up, towering above him as the chair slammed into the floor and suddenly, it was Thanos standing over him, grabbing Loki by the back of his neck and holding him in place. The yellow of the mind stone filled his vision and Loki flinched, shrinking into himself. The soft pillows behind his back were at odds with Thanos's usual methods of persuasion and it was that which drew Loki back into the present to find Thor watching him with concern in his blue eyes. It took Loki a moment longer to realize that it was Thor's hand resting at the nape of his neck. When Thor spoke, for when he spoke, it was with conviction but for an entirely different matter. "You're alive, Brother. You are here with me."

Loki cleared his throat, shoving the memory of Thanos from his mind as he focused on the conversation. Words still escaped him as he looked down on his fingers, grasped tightly in Thor's other hand. "Then why— how can— how can you speak against Odin? What changed? Why would you— I don't understand…"

"I grew up, Loki." Thor's voice turned soft. "And in doing so, I realized that our father wasn't as perfect as I believed him to be. He, too, had flaws. I am sorry it took me so long to see the truth."

"A few years ago, I would have given up _anything_ to hear you say those words," Loki admitted. "Now, I'm not so sure I wanted to hear them."

_Liar! _Whispered a voice in his head and Loki pushed it away.

"I-I… I'm sorry if you think it's too late," Thor said. Loki knew Thor would be wearing that kicked puppy expression on his face, so he didn't look up. "But I'm not going to give up. I don't know how, yet, but I _will _make it up to you brother. I swear it."

Loki said nothing to that, wondering if this was all some hallucination brought forth by his mind after the ordeal he'd just been through. After what Thor had said to him on that lift in Sakaar, about going their separate ways, this sudden change of heart was… unsettling and Loki did not like feeling unsettled.

Thor cleared his throat and awkwardly reached for the tray Banner had brought. "Ah, the good people from the farm down the hill delivered some ripened Tikifru today," Thor exclaimed as he held up a purple fleshy fruit almost as big as his fist.

Loki refused to acknowledge the sense of loss he felt at not having the assuring weight of Thor's hand on his back. It had helped ground Loki to reality but he was not going to stoop so low so as to ask Thor to hold him again. Instead, he focused his attention on the fruit in Thor's hand.

Tikifru had been considered something of a rarity and a delicacy on Asgard since the fruit could only be grown, harvested and consumed within a small a window of time, which shouldn't have been a problem given the Bifrost but _someone_ disliked the fruit enough to ban use of the Bifrost for its trade with Sarab and its surrounding systems that grew Tikifru. "We used to love this stuff as kids, remember?"

Thor rambled on for a bit, until Loki decided to ask the question that had been bugging him. "Why the change of heart?"

"—and then mother was… what?"

"Why the sudden change of heart, Thor?" Loki asked hotly, feeling upset by the situation at hand and refusing to show any more emotions to Thor until he had some answers. "One moment you're more than willing to let me go my separate way and now you're refusing to even let go of my hand." Loki tried shaking him off but Thor held on firmly to his fingers. Not hard enough to cut off circulation but enough to make it difficult for Loki to free himself without prying him off. Which was something Loki refused to do.

"I saw your Jotun form for the first time as you fell through the portal after Banner and I," Thor's words sent a chill skittering up Loki's spine as an irrational fear took root in his heart. _I will slay all Frost Giants! _"To be honest, you looked no different in that form than you do in this. Did you know when I picked you up, your skin did not burn me? You remained that skin for almost a day and I was right here," Thor pointed to the spot he stood on, "I haven't left your side for the past five days brother. And as I waited for you to wake up, I had nothing but time to think and reevaluate every choice that I've made over the past millennium. I-I… I couldn't bring myself to let go. I still can't because I'm…" Thor trailed off before shaking his head and starting again. "You came close to dying three times since then. I can't let go because I'm afraid if I do, you will slip away and I will have no one. I can't lose you too, brother. You're all I have left."

"You'd still have Asgard, you oaf."

"Asgard could never equate to you, Loki."

His words chased away the vestiges of terror that had clung to Loki's heart and he suppressed the urge to smile like an idiot. "You are a sentimental fool."

"I know." Thor had no such compunctions and smiled brightly when Loki squeezed his fingers.

_And I might be one too. _

The silence stretched between them but it was a comfortable one as Loki used Thor's solid presence to ground himself in the now. It was dark outside by the time Banner reappeared in the doorway, this time, bearing three bowls of brother with chunks of meat and vegetables.

"I figured we could all have dinner here tonight."

"An excellent idea, Bruce." Thor grabbed a bowl off the tray and offered it to Loki, waiting until Loki had it settled in his lap before getting one for himself.

"So, I was wondering if maybe we should discuss what we're going to do next, now that Loki is finally awake again. I mean, how do we stop Thanos?"

"You wish to fight him again?" Loki couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. "He is a plague that invades planets, wiping out half of all life he encounters, all in the name of maintaining some form of balance."

"He was the one who sent you to New York, wasn't he?" Bruce asked, and Loki bristled at the hint of pity in his voice.

"The past does not matter."

"Brother, please, tell us the truth."

"Alright, fine! Yes!" Loki snapped. "He sent me. The Mad Titan used the mind stone and bent me to his will. He let his children entertain themselves with me as they broke me. When he was certain of my compliance he gave me the staff and sent me to Midgard."

"You kept that inside all these years. Why did you not say anything?"

"What difference would that have made?"

"I would have protected you." And there Thor went again, acting like a kicked puppy.

"Oh really?" Loki scoffed, crossing his arms as he glared at the oaf. "Just like you _protected _me when I was given that farce of a trial and locked away for _life?_"

"Loki, I—"

"You never _once_ tried to look any deeper, choosing to believe that which was brought to light in my _trial._ After the Kursed killed mother, you broke me out of the cell and promised to put me back there the moment I had done as you bid. Why, then, should I have trusted you? How were you any different than the rest?"

"I am sorry, Brother. I was a fool and I chose the path that was the easiest. But I swear to you, Loki. I have changed. Give me a chance to prove it. Please."

"

Breathing heavily, Loki turned away, no longer hungry as he pushed the bowl of soup away. A few minutes passed before Banner awkwardly cleared his throat.

"So, ahem, are we going to discuss what we should do next?"

"What is there to discuss? Thanos has the Power Stone. He most assuredly knows the locations of the other five. Once I have you two safely back on Midgard, I run with the Tesseract and hope that I may be able to keep away from him for as long as I live."

"I do not like that plan." Thor declared.

"Yeah, me neither." Bruce, on the other hand was a surprise.

"And what," Loki narrowed his eyes, "do you propose we do?"

"We stop him from getting to the other stones." Bruce declared as though it were that simple and Loki wanted to laugh at the man's naiveté. Thor, on the other hand, looked interested enough so Loki decided to give the man a chance to speak.

_**A/N: This work is still not beta'd so if anyone is interested in beta-reading, lemme know :)**_


	3. So Cold

_**A/N: Slightly graphic descriptions and body horror in this chapter. **_

The nightmares followed him out into the burnished orange light of the twin stars racing across Saraab's sky. Dread wrapped its cold, putrid hands around his throat, slithering its way down his spine to anchor Loki's feet to the purple grass. Clenching his hands into fists by his side, Loki watched Thor and Banner walk out into the open field and take in their surroundings. Thor was merely taking stock of what was around them but Banner wore a look of open curiosity and awe. Had Loki been in any state to do so, he might have made a comment about the tourist-like behavior.

The two idiots had been ready to rush off to collect the remaining infinity stones to keep them out of Thanos's hands, but Loki had managed to talk them out of it. Firstly because, as the new king of Asgard, Thor needed to check on the Dwarves of Nidavellir. Thanos's gauntlet was of a distinctly dwarven make and the only way the Mad Titan could have gotten one made was by forcing the dwarves. Thor had a responsibility to everyone under Asgard's protection and even though they had no way of reversing the damaged wrought by Thanos, having Thor there to personally explain why Asgard had failed to come to Nidavellir's aid might still sooth some of their resentment.

And secondly, because Loki was not eager for a rematch with the Mad Titan any time soon. He had no wish to watch Thor or himself slaughtered and if that made Loki a coward, then so be it.

_There will be no barren moon where you can hide. _The Other's voice hissed inside his head and Loki grit his teeth. No. The Other was dead! Loki had seen that report being delivered to Thanos from the Hlidskjalf. Not to mention, a handful of days ago, Loki had survived a direct encounter with the Mad Titan. No. He had not just survived, he had come out victorious. Loki had brandished the Tesseract right before Thanos's face. Loki had reclaimed his brother and his people from the Mad Titan and Thanos had failed to cull the Asgardians. Thanos had _failed_. Because of Loki. Cementing that fact in his mind, Loki quashed the sliver of fear that was spreading it's tendrils through his soul.

_So long as I have the Tesseract, I have nothing to fear. _

Loki forced his foot forward, unsticking his limbs until he had joined his brother and Banner out in the open field.

_I have nothing to fear. _Loki reminded himself as he waved his hand through the air and _pulled_ out the Tesseract from where he'd stored it. The air came alive with the Tesseract's power, its siren song a constant melody somewhere in the back of his mind rose to the fore and it was all Loki could do to not give in to the lure of it. The Tesseract wanted to be used. It sang and it begged. It threatened and cajoled. It wanted to be used. It needed to be used. It wanted and it needed and it—

"Is something the matter, Loki?" Thor's voice cut through the haze of power and Loki's focus snapped to his brother.

"I'm sorry?"

"You've been standing there with the Tesseract for nearly five minutes now," Thor gestured at the blue cube clutched between Loki's fingers, "so I was wondering if something was wrong?"

Reality came crashing on Loki.

Wrong? Oh nothing much Thor. Just the fact that Thanos had the Power Stone in his possession and if not for Loki's quick thinking, none of them would have made it off the Statesman alive. His use of the casket of ancient winters in tandem with the Tesseract had taken Thanos by surprise once but the same trick wouldn't work twice. And Thor wanted to confront the Mad Titan and his Black order with just Loki and his idiot friend as back up.

Loki wouldn't be able to stall Thor forever. Maybe he could convince the idiot to escort the surviving dwarves in Nidavellir to someplace safer but what then? His excuses to keep the oaf from painting a target on his back by going after the infinity stones would run out sooner or later. And what if in the next confrontation, they failed? What if _Loki _failed? The phantom hand closed in around Loki's throat and he could feel it choking the life out of him and oh Norns… Loki was scared. He was terrified. He did not want to do this. He did not want to risk his life again. He wanted to send the two idiots someplace safe and then run and keep on running for the rest of his days. Surely, if Thanos wanted to kill Loki, he would have to find him first. And with the Tesseract in his grasp, Loki could evade the Titan forever if he so wished it.

_I'm scared._ Loki swallowed the words of weakness. _No I'm terrified. _ _I don't want to do this. _Voicing them out loud, openly admitting to his cowardice was… _I don't want to lose you too. _Loki shook his head and offered Thor a smile. "Everything is fine, Thor. Just recovering, you know."

_Liar! _Snarled Sif inside his head and Loki barely managed to suppress a flinch at the way Thor's expression crumpled to that of a kicked wolf cub. Shoving away the wave of guilt that drowned out his terror, Loki focused on his seidr and created a portal to Nidavellir.

Thor gave him a long, inscrutable look though whatever comments he had, he kept to himself, choosing to join Banner instead near the spot where the portal hovered above the purple grass. Loki watched the swirling black cloud swallow them both.

_He will find you. And he will make you long for something as sweet as death._ The Other's putrid breathe brushed the shell of his ear and Loki froze. Panic gripped at his chest, cold and burning and Loki couldn't breathe. A loud crash came from the other side of the portal.

Hela's voice replaced the Other's in Loki's head. _I should thank you for getting rid of the bumbling oaf for me. _

Eyes going wide, Loki gasped, "No."

What had Loki done? What had he just done?! He sent Thor into a trap! He sent _the last of his family_ to his death!

_Murderer! _Hissed a myriad of voice that echoed around the empty plains as Loki stood there, unmoving and utterly useless.

_Nonono… I-I… I didn't mean to— _

The Hulk's roar jolted Loki out of his panic.

Summoning his knives, Loki shot through the portal. It was only the subconscious instinct of cloaking himself while at Thor's side for centuries that Loki concealed his presence before he appeared on the other side. Weapons at the ready Loki froze at the sight that greeted him. Whatever it was he had expected to face, watching an unkempt dwarf attack both Thor and Hulk while screaming obscenities had not been it.

Thor's answering yells were drowned out by the dwarf's voice and the loud clang of bodies hitting abandoned metalworking stations. Ducking out of the way, Loki took stock of his surroundings, his heart stuttering at what he found carefully tucked away in an alcove. Rows upon rows of dwarf-sized bodies covered in hand-woven quilts and surrounded by Uru pots and mounds of herbs. Whoever the dwarf fighting against his brother was, they had been in the middle of performing the funerary rights of their fallen shield brothers. A quick scanning spell revealed no other living beings besides the four of them in their immediate vicinity.

_Has he been by himself all this time?_ Loki shuddered as his mind conjured up a mirror image of Thor, alone and wandering through the corpse laden ghost ship Statesmen, gathering the fallen Asgardians with no one to help or talk to him. Loki winced when the dwarf struck Thor and sent him flying through the air, throwing the Hulk right after. The two crashed into the far wall one after the other. While his brother groaned and struggled to his feet, the beast shook itself and jumped back at their attacker with a roar. Thor followed soon after, lightning crackling around his body as he shot at the dwarf.

_I need to stop them before they kill each other. _Loki conjured an illusion between the dwarf and Thor as a distraction while using the chaos energy generated by the fight to power multiple precautionary spells. Projecting his voice through the illusion, Loki cried, "Wait!"

For a heartbeat, the warring parties froze and Loki was shocked to realize that the unkempt dwarf attacking his brother was none other than King Eitri. The dwarf squinted down at Loki before smashing his fists through the illusion and Thor who happened to be right behind it. The Hulk was next, receiving a fist to the face and a vindictive part of Loki crowed in delight. Finally, the beast had met its match.

Thor clambered back to his feet, swaying just a little as he rushed to intervene. The Hulk was getting its ass handed to it.

"Eitri!" Thor yelled as he caught dwarf's fist. "Eitri, wait! It's me, Thor! And that's the Hulk. He's a friend."

The dwarf king growled and swung his other fist. Thor grunted when the blow connected with his side but refused to relent. Loki frowned. There was something strange going on. Not once, during the fight so far had Eitri tried to bring out a weapon. In addition to being a master smith, Eitri was also a skilled weapons master so then why—light glinted off of Eitri's fists.

_Oh Norns, his hands… _a shudder raced down Loki's spine as finally got a good look at Eitri's mangled hands. Uru was smelted around all the way till the dwarf's forearms. The ends stuck out in misshapen lumps that must have once been the dwarf king's hands. No wonder, Eitri wasn't using a weapon. He _couldn't…_

"Thor?" Eitri gasped, slowly coming out of the berserker's rage. His next words were cut short when the Hulk barreled into him and sent the dwarf crashing into a crucible.

"Hulk still the strongest!" the beast roared, slamming both fists on his chests in a show of strength and Loki decided that was a good time to show himself.

"No one is doubting that," Loki said, as he sent an illusion to stand next to the beast while he himself, still cloaked, came up behind Thor. "Though I would suggest you keep your temper in check."

Loki was suddenly very glad for having sent an illusion to the Hulk when the beast slammed his fist through Loki's head. "Puny god!"

_What is it with everyone trying to smash their fists through me? _Loki wondered as he let the illusion fall apart. With the beast in such a volatile mood, it would be best to keep Thor between the two of them though Loki needn't have worried. The Hulk had already begun to shrink back into Banner.

"Eitri, I'm so sorry." Thor hurried to where the dwarf king was struggling to sit up. "Are you alright?"

"Where were you?" Eitri gasped, tears shining bright in his eyes as he turned an accusing gaze on the three of them. "You were supposed to protect us. Where was Asgard when we needed it the most? Where _were you?_" Eitri demanded, his voice rising with every word.

"Eitri… I'm so sorry."

"You apologies are useless to me, Prince Thor." Eitri made a valiant effort to wipe his eyes though with is hands in such bad shape, it was of little use. "My people are dead. Slaughtered by the Mad Titan. We tried to defend the forge. Our warriors held off the Outriders' assault for three days. But when the Black Order joined in, we were quickly overrun. I had hoped… I had hoped that if I did as he asked of me, he would spare my people but he… he killed every last one. He said I had earned my life but not my hands. Do you see what did to me?" Eitri held up his mauled hands, voice growing soft as he repeated his question. "Where were you?"

"We would have come to your aid, King Eitri, had we known," Loki said. He didn't miss the flash of surprise on Eitri's face when Loki stepped into the muted light.

"I see you are alive and well, Prince Loki," Eitri said as he closed his eyes, bowing his head though Loki knew it wasn't out of respect. "Asgard should have received our distress calls. We did everything to keep Thanos out for the sake of our alliance. The _All-Father_ was the one who banned Thanos from the Nine Realms and yet, it was my people who sacrificed their lives to keep in an attempt to keep it that way. So I ask you again, _where were you_?"

"Fending off Hela and her legion of the undead to keep her from beginning her quest to reclaim the Nine Realms," Loki replied.

"Asgard was destroyed in the process." Thor added.

Something akin to shock and then understanding flashed across Eitri's face but when he spoke, it was more a statement than a question. "So Odin is dead."

"You knew about our sister?" Thor's tone was full of accusation.

Eitri's eyes snapped open as he shot Thor an infuriated scowl. "Of course I knew the crown princess. Everyone who is old enough to remember Odin's warmongering days remembers the Goddess of Death, Hela Odinsdottir. Did she really destroy Asgard?"

"No, that was us. Well, it was Surtur if you really want to get technical," Loki said, enjoying how Eitri was suddenly at a loss for words. "We had to bring about Ragnarok to stop her."

"Wha— But... You set Ragnarok in motion? Really?" Was what Eitri settled for in the end.

Loki shrugged but before he could come up with a clever quip, Thor redirected the conversation. "Eitri, Thanos had a gauntlet, is that what he came here for? Did you make that for him?"

"He threatened to slaughter all who lived on the rings, if we didn't do as he'd asked. What were we to do when Asgard failed us?" Eitri's tone was defensive now. Next to Loki, Banner shifted uneasily. When Thor remained silent, Eitri's voice grew louder. "Do you know what I've been doing since Thanos left?"

Loki found his gaze drawn to where the corpses of the dwarves were lined up. The Outrider corpses were nowhere in sight and Loki wondered what Eitri might have done with those.

"I have been collecting our fallen, trying to perform their final rights with these." Eitri held up his mangled hands.

"Eitri, I know it is too late now, but can we be of any assistance?" Thor asked.

"I appreciate the offer but these rights are to be performed by dwarves, alone."

Loki cast another look around the darkened workshop, studying the destruction and the long dried streaks and splotches of blood. In a corner near the hidden alcove, bent and broken weapons had been carefully lined up on a table with a pile of intact weapons and tools on the floor next to it. He knew Eitri would match each weapon to its wielder and then bend or break it in a way that it could not be used again. Unless something was left in a will to the wielder's descendants, in which case, their tools would be the ones that were broken. The collection of weapons and tools was by the swirling purple and golden shields that were a signature of dwarven technomagic. Loki frowned upon realizing that all of the corpses had been of the same build and height. _Where are the women and children?_

"Eitri, are the non-combatants hiding in the Vaults?" Loki asked, uncaring of the surprise and anger on Eitri's face. "Ottarr and I used to sneak down there to study the enchantments."

Eitri's expression softened at the mention of the shape shifting dwarven mage. Eitri's godson had been a good friend to Loki in their childhood though the two had drifted apart as they grew up. Last he had heard, Ottarr had been apprenticing under one of the mages of Alfheim. It was a selfish thing to wish for but Loki hoped he was still there.

Eitri's gaze strayed towards the center of the ring, where Loki knew the Vaults were situated. Though their general purpose was to store exceptional weapon or rare and very expensive raw materials, in case of a siege, the Vaults were designed to serve a secondary purpose as secure bunkers for the non-combatants to stay in. They were stocked with provisions to allow the inhabitants to survive for as long as a Nidavellirian year. The reluctance was clear as day on Eitri's face when the dwarf looked away. Loki barely refrained from pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You know you can't perform the funerary rights of your fallen by yourself. Not with your hands in that state." Loki knew it was cruel of him to toss Eitri's loss in his face like that but they couldn't wait for Eitri to come to terms with his losses. Loki hated to be the one to do it, but it was a necessary evil. Even with the cycle of guilt and self-condemnation Eitri was spiraling down for Loki recognized the look borne by the dwarf king. Loki had caught it in his reflection often enough after Frigga's death to be intimately familiar with what someone wishing to die with the fallen appeared like.

_Yet, here you are. Dragging him deeper down that spiral, Liesmith. Go on, tell him that he needs to face the survivors and explain why he failed in protecting their warriors. Tell him he needs to explain why he survived while his men died. Go on, and destroy him._

"Eitri, you cannot restart the forge without their help," Loki said in the end, setting his jaw at the look of pure loathing that the dwarf king shot him. If he had to be the villain to get the dwarf to move, then so be it. It wasn't the first time Loki had cast in that role. Even without the Space Stone, Thanos would already be moving towards his next target. Someone needed to warn the Midgardians about their approaching doom. Not to mention, someone needed to go and retrieve the Aether from the Collector. The Celestial was a powerful adversary and he guarded his treasures like a dragon hoarded its gold, jealously and ferociously but with Thanos in possession of the Power Stone, he wouldn't stand a chance. Already, they had wasted so much time because of Loki needing to recover.

"You know I'm right." Loki crossed his arms and Eitri's glare lost its heat. With a defeated sigh, the dwarf king closed his eyes.

"When it became obvious that the Mad Titan would breech our defenses, I had the non-combatants evacuated to one of the Vaults. They were hidden from all who meant them harm but after Thanos mangled my hands... I-I... what am I to tell the survivors? I am not fit to be King."

"Your people will not blame you for being unable to fight off the Mad Titan. Tales of his madness are known far and wide." Thor laid a comforting hand on Eitri's arm as Banner came up on his other side.

Leaving the comforting to those more suited to the role, Loki slunk off. Someone would come find him when they had need of him. Ignoring the soft murmur or voices behind him, Loki wandered through the cavernous workshop. Located on the innermost ring of the Dyson Sphere, this was where the Master Smiths worked their craft. This ring was easily the most defensible and thus also held the Vaults at its heart. The next ring was dedicated to the Dwarven Academy of Metal-smithing. And the two rings after, were where he knew the dwarves held their livestock, grew local produce and housed the majority of Nidavellir's population. The final and outermost ring held the assembly line for things that the dwarves commercially produced and exported to the realms holding their trading pacts.

Wandering through the forge, Loki came to one of the external viewing bays. Like everywhere else in the forge, this area too held blackened bloodstains and extensive damage. Running a hand along the frozen metal, Loki walked up to the flickering energy shields. Letting the cold of space seep into his bones, Loki stared out at the rings spread out above him. With the forge shut down, the mechanism holding them aligned must have failed or perhaps it was a result of Thanos's assault that the rings were out of alignment. Regardless, without the central core to provide power, the inter-ring transporter tubes had iced over. Normally, backup power would have been enough to keep that from happening but Eitri must have redirected the energy to the Vault that held what remained of his people.

Pushing against the gaping maws of terror that always gripped him when Loki was confronted with the vastness and emptiness of space, he stared into the void. The breath misting before his eyes served as a reminder that his feet were firmly planted on solid ground. He wasn't falling endlessly through the space between the worlds, losing himself piece by piece. Instead, Loki forced himself to recall Nidavellir's location inside the Yggdrasil and used that knowledge to place the stellar systems holding different realms along the world tree into the empty space above him. He started by pinpointing Svartalfheim, slightly off-centre in the sixth quadrant, orbiting a dying red star.

_I will tell father you died with honor, _Thor promised in his head. The echo of a phantom blade piercing his flesh made itself known in the form of a dull throb in his chest.

Loki clenched his fists, nails digging deep into his palms as he hissed, "I didn't do it for him." No, never again. Not for Odin. Not after what he'd—

Swallowing thickly, Loki forced his gaze to wander past the misaligned rings to where he knew Asgard and its twin suns were located. Now, only the shattered ruins of his home would remain, orbiting the dual star system until gravity from their suns would pull on the fragments and swallow them for fuel. Or perhaps, the void would consume his home as it once consumed him. His breath caught in his throat as he hung off the edge of the shattered Bifrost, Gungnir clasp tight in his fingers.

_I could have done it! For you! For all of us! _

Odin stared down at him as Thor hung between them. _No, Loki. You did it for you._

"Loki!" Thor's voice echoed around him, wrenching Loki away from the vision before Loki could let go to let the void swallow him. "Loki, where are yo— oh, there you are. I've been calling your name for ages. What are you doing out here?"

"Not getting up to mischief if that's what you're worried about." Loki snapped, turning back to face Thor. The smile slid off his brother's face at the venom in his tone but Loki couldn't bring himself to care. "What do you want, Thor?"

"We uh... Eitri said that only four dwarves working in tandem can undo the enchantments. And since we're three dwarves short, Bruce suggested that you might be able to create a portal into the Vault to let out the survivors. Eitri has agreed to lead us there," Thor said. When Loki remained silent, Thor added. "I came to fetch you."

_You did it for you._

Loki marched past Thor without a word, though halfway down the room he realized that Thor had yet to join him. Looking back, he saw Thor standing by the viewing bay, brow furrowed as he watched Loki walk away. He barely managed to tamp down on his irritation. "What is it?"

"Is everything okay, brother?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" Loki rolled his eyes and started walking again. "Are you coming?"

Three steps later, the quiet shuffle of Thor's feet joined his. They walked the rest of the way in silence. Eitri stood beside Banner when they reached the workshop.

"Can you really create a portal into the Vaults?" Asked the dwarf king as soon as he caught sight of Loki. The muted hope in Eitri's eyes did something painful to Loki's insides. When was the last time someone had looked at him with hope for something only he could deliver?

"Do you have protections any against Infinity Stones?" Loki drawled, ignoring Thor's shocked cry of "Loki!" as he studied the myriad of emotions playing across Eitri's face. If Thor had been so worried about letting people know that Loki possessed the Space Stone, he shouldn't have promised Loki's portal making services to the dwarf king.

"Odin refused to let us study the Space Stone," Eitri said in the end.

"Then we have our answer."

"This way." Eitri turned and marched through a concealed side entrance. Banner had to practically run to keep up with the dwarf king though Loki and Thor only needed a brisk pace. They followed Eitri through a maze of corridors to reach the rail cart tracks that the dwarves used to travel on the rings. Sensing their presence, the cart's bottom lit up with a soft purple glow, rising four feet off the ground. It hovered in place, near silent except for giving off a gentle hum.

The four of them climbed aboard and settled into the dwarf sized seats. Glowing, purple strands of energy strapped around their waists and shoulders to hold them in place as Eitri rattled a set of co-ordinates and the cart shot off, zigzagging through a complex network of tunnels that wound through the rings. Their ride came to an end as swiftly as the ride had begun, and the cart powered down, the belts holding them in place dissipating into florescent smoke. Eitri had already dismounted and was hurrying to the exit of the cavernous room before Loki managed to catch up, trusting Thor and Banner to not fall behind. The dwarf king led them into the bowels of the ring and the walls came alive with the signature purple and yellow glow, pulsing in sync to their footsteps.

Loki's skin prickled with the ambient magic in the air. He let it sink in, where the energy mingled with his magical core, slowly replenishing the reserves he had depleted nearly a week ago. The resultant rush of power was invigorating and it wasn't until that moment that Loki realized just how utterly exhausted he had been. He basked in the energy caressing him, grateful that the dwarves relied so heavily on technomagic instead of just one or the other. It was because of how the two branches of science melded together that there was such an abundance of ambient magic. The only other places where he could have received such a gift would have been areas inlaid with heavy and ancient enchantments that were either heavily guarded or highly trapped and very, very hard to get to.

Eitri continued leading them down. Their path declined for long enough that they ought to have come out the other side of the ring and yet... Frowning, Loki concentrated on the threads of enchantment woven into their surroundings, layered beneath the ambient magic. He had never paid attention to those with Ottarr around, usually immersed in their debates about one subject or another, but now, without the dwarven mage around to distract him, Loki noticed things he had always missed on his previous visits.

The spells were subtle, almost subliminal in nature the way they were designed to confuse and turn around anyone not of dwarven origin. The spellwork was so closely interwoven with the core functional spells that it would be impossible to unravel one without destroying the rest. An apt way to ensure that no outsiders could find their way to the vaults unless there was a dwarf to show them the path.

To keep his mind occupied, Loki started mentally cataloguing all the spells he could identify and comparing the way they were being used by the dwarves to how he had seen them utilized in Asgard. That was the only reason he noticed they had arrived at their destination when Eitri stopped in front of a stretch of wall that was physically no different than the rest of the tunnels. The protective magic around the wall strengthened tenfold at Loki's tentative probe, like a viper rearing to strike and Loki quickly backtracked but not before a nasty deathcurse wrapped in psychic barbs shot back through the connection.

With a pained cry, Loki collapsed to his knees, clawing at his skull as the thorns struck to his mental shields, barbs attacked his shields, trying to drill through them to reach his brain. He groaned, struggling to redirect his seidr to strengthen the shields as a wave of confusion and nausea assaulted his senses. The ground swayed beneath his body, violently wrenching Loki from side to side as the psychic barbs skittered across his shields, spreading like spiders trying to pry open the hairline cracks in his defenses, a souvenir of Loki's time aboard the Sanctuary II.

Deep in his magical core, the sound of a glacier cracking echoed within his bones, ice breaking apart and spreading and rising as it rushed to meet the poisonous spiders sinking in their stingers into his shields.

Loki opened his eyes, to find himself standing before the chalice that held the Eternal Flame, Surtur's crown held aloft in his hand a foot above it. As though sensing the crown's presence, the flame rose higher, wrenching the metal from Loki's fingers, eager to awaken the Fire Giant and bring about Ragnarok. The flames licked at Loki's flesh, leaving behind charred stubs upon his wrists. Startled, Loki stumbled back, staring at his mangled hands before the pain registered and he screamed.

The ice in his bones exploded, clawing out of the stubs to form talons befitting a draugr. His arms moved by their own accord as the claws reached up and tore into his skull. They made contact with the poisonous spiders and froze them solid. Every crack in Loki's now frozen psychic shields erupted in an icicle that shattered the deathcurse. The ice followed the curse's path back to the wall that had spawned the spell and struck. Instead of ice magic freezing it solid or shattering it, or damaging it in any way however, the wall began to swallow the power like quicksand.

The wall sapped at the cold in Loki's bones, drawing it out of his blood and breath but where the wall took, only more formed to take its place, moving outwards, spreading and spreading until he turned into the ice and frost and the frigid winters of Jotunheim. He was its majestic frozen tundras, the mighty snowcapped peaks, the magnificent icy trenches. He was Ymir's legacy, he was Jotunheim, he was... Dying.

He could hear shouting in the distance.

_Stop... Please... _

Someone was screaming and screaming and screaming. There was blood in his lungs, his nose, his throat. The screams turned to choked whimpers as the casket of ancient winters slipped from nerveless fingers and the ice stopped spreading. Loki curled into himself as awareness returned in bits and snatches.

First came the sound of his ragged breathing, the sound of the blood pounding in his ears, the after burn of using frost magic in his veins. Then came the sound of Thor yelling his name, burning hands on his shoulders, his brother's worried face swimming before his eyes. Last came the realization that the wall's defenses had activated upon sensing Loki's presence and he'd barely managed to prevent the resultant deathcurse from killing him. The spell however, upon failing to kill him had sent Loki into a trance where he'd relived Surtur's awakening and in his panic, he'd summoned the casket of ancient winters.

Loki held up his shaking hands to the purple light, nausea bubbling up his throat at the sight of the markings on the frost giant hands. No wonder Thor's hands felt so warm. Swallowing back the bile, Loki reached into the part of him that allowed him to shapeshift and pulled forth his Aesir skin. Then, with a wave of his hand, Loki dismissed the casket that lay abandoned by his knees. Only then did he turn his attention to Thor who was still shaking him like a complete loon and all but screaming his name.

"Do you wish to rattle the brain out of my skull, Thor?" Loki snapped as he shrugged off Thor's hands and got to his feet. Catching sight of Banner and Eitri hovering nearby, shame curdled in Loki's chest. They must think him to be a weakling. No wonder Thor wanted them to go their separate ways.

"Loki, are you alright?" Thor's question was voiced tentatively, almost though the oaf was afraid of making Loki relapse.

_See? He must think you're made of glass. _

"I'm fine, you idiot. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Maybe because you just had a flashback out of nowhere?" Banner piped up and Loki hated the man more than he ever had before. Banner gestured to the ground where Loki had just fallen. As if to rub it in Loki's face, Banner's next words were just that, "You collapsed and started screaming loud enough to raise the dead."

"I'm quite sure Hela and her army is still floating amongst the rubble of Asgard." Loki snapped and turned his focus onto Eitri instead. The dwarf king was watching Loki with a contemplative look on his face. Loki scowled and crossed his arms, a sliver of fear worming into his heart. "What?"

"Are you capable of summoning a portal in your current state?"

A part of him was relieved that Eitri hadn't voiced an accusation about Loki trying to tamper with the vaults defenses. The last time a high ranking dwarf had accused him off something Loki had had his lips forcibly sewn shut for a week and a geas placed upon him from mentioning or talking about what had happened to anyone not already there when the deed had happened. Eitri having discovered what took place, had decided to look the other way when Brokk went missing from the forge though a politely worded letter had found its way to Loki, requesting that he refrain from visiting Nidavellir for a few centuries. This was the first Loki had set foot on the forge since that incident.

Loki offered the dwarf king a bland smile and summoned the Tesseract, refusing to acknowledge the way his hands shook upon gripping the glowing blue cube. Tapping into the ambient magic without dipping back into the layered spellwork, Loki summoned a portal into the vault. Eitri dipped his head once towards Loki before stepping into the swirling darkness.

The silence between Loki, Thor and Banner was near suffocating in the ten minutes it took for Eitri to return, a young dwarven child clinging to the king, her face buried in the dwarf king's neck. It was hard to tell the child's age without seeing her but Loki hazarded her to be around the Midgardian equivalent of eight years at most. Behind him, women, children and a few elderly dwarves followed.

Once the last of them, a measly hundred dwarves in all, had stepped through, Loki let the portal collapse and turned to study the gathering. Roughly half of the survivors were children, a quarter were women and near about the same were the elderly. A few bore wet eyes though most stood next to their king in stoic support, what appeared to be an elderly medic fussing over the mangled stub of Eitri's hands. With Uru smelted around the king's flesh nearly all the way to the elbows, Loki doubted there was any way for the hands or the forearms to be saved, but given the quality of dwarven craftsmanship, they probably would be able to outfit their king with suitable prosthetics.

"Loki, would you mind summoning another portal to the workshop? We would like to be done with the funerary rights of our fallen as soon as possible."

Gritting his teeth against the annoying ringing in his ears, Loki nodded and did as asked. Perhaps they sensed the state of its summoner or they were eager to be done with the funerary rights, but the dwarves were quick to move through the portal. Not wishing to find their way back through the labyrinth of tunnels, Loki motioned for Thor and Banner to follow, the latter of whom obeyed without a word though Thor came to a halt by Loki's side.

"Brother, are you certain you're—"

"I'm fine, Thor! Quit fussing like a mother-hen. Now, are you coming?" With that Loki marched through. For a heartbeat, Loki contemplated letting the portal collapse before Thor made it through, letting the oaf find his own way back just so Loki wouldn't have to deal with his incessant hovering but before he could reach a decision, his brother had arrived. And by the stubborn set to his jaw, Loki knew there would be talks about _feelings. _Dismissing the Tesseract, Loki grit his teeth and marched out of the workshop, content to not allow Thor to have his way.


	4. Closer to the Edge

_**A/N: Today is my birthday so here's a treat for you guys. And by treat I mean a new chapter. Be warned that there will be more body horror this chapter. Not a lot but its there so yeah. Then again, Loki is a mess so it ought to be expected? Thor is trying, the poor guy but Loki does what he wants. **_

The dwarves took the better part of the day to perform the funerary rights. Having no wish to converse with the oaf, Loki did his best to lurk out of Thor's sight. He was afraid of what might slip past his lips if Thor were to try and force him to speak.

Loki sat curled up against the viewing bay window, soaking up the chill of space through the flickering purple shield when an orichalcum sarcophagus floated past. Adorned with sacred carvings and high dwarven script, it moved through space in a decaying spiral around the neutron star. After it had completed one orbit, a second sarcophagus followed in its path. Like the first one, it completed one orbit around the star and the dwarves launched a third one into space. Seven sarcophagi later, the first coffin's orbit had decayed enough to reach the iris of the Dyson Sphere.

Loki sat up straighter, watching as it fell into the neutron star without any fanfare. For a heartbeat, nothing happened but then, a ribbon of gold energy curled outwards from the iris. It spiraled around the star as it rose. Every successive sarcophagus to fall in released a different colored ribbon, each joining the first in a complex helical structure of iridescent energy. In a way, it reminded Loki of the Bifrost's energy when it activated.

Having lost count of the procession somewhere after the fiftieth sarcophagus, Loki rested his head against the window shield and closed his eyes. Unwelcome thoughts spiraled in his mind the way the sarcophagi spiraled around the neutron star. Loki wasn't sure when he fell asleep but he awoke to the sound of loud breathing. Annoyance flared in his chest at the thought that Thor had managed to track him down and Loki whirled around to tell him off. The words died in his throat when he came face to face with Hela instead. She stood in the shadows, watching him with half her body a charred husk. Tiny flames flickered all over her body and curled in her burnt hair.

Hela's lips curled in a chilling smirk, before she shot towards him, claws outstretched to tear into Loki's flesh, who fell off his perch with a strangled yell. His head hit the floor with a dull _thunk _and when he shook off the dizziness long enough to sit up again, she was gone. 

"Oh Loki, my darling boy," Mother sighed behind him and Loki froze. Eyes wide, barely breathing, Loki couldn't bring himself to believe that she was truly there. Her fingers gently carded through his hair, the familiar weight of her palm pressed against his scalp just how it used to. Choking back on a sob, Loki closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, breathing in the familiar scent of her perfume. The one she always had imported from Vanaheim. "You're hurting."

Loki said nothing, not wanting to shatter whatever this was. An apparition? Or perhaps a sign that his mind was finally too broken. Mother sighed and vanished on a breath of air, taking with her the comforting warmth that he only noticed when it was gone. Loki shivered from the cold, his heart aching with regret.

_Mother, come back, please. I never told you I'm sorry... I never got to say goodbye._

He had denied her as his mother when she lived and after her death, he never even had a chance to see her off to Valhalla. A heavy lump settled in the back of his throat as the weight of guilt pressed down on his chest.

_It's no less than what you deserve, Liesmith, _the cold his echoed around him and Loki's eyes snapped open. Searching his surroundings, he spotted the apparition in the same shadows that had held Hela moments ago. Lifeless pupils, focused on something only it could see as the apparition stepped into the light wearing Loki's face. It wore a silver muzzle on its mouth ambling towards him on legs that were shackled to its hands with a short chain. Blood steadily trickled down the side of its face.

"No..." Loki gasped, scrambling back as it drew closer.

_You killed her, _the apparition hissed despite the muzzle it wore.

"It was an— I-I didn't mean to—"

_No one cares whether you meant for it to happen or not. She is still dead! _A change overcame the apparition and it stood up straighter. The muzzle and shackles fell away as the blankness in his eyes was replaced with an eerie blue glow. The apparition held out its hand and the accursed scepter materialized between outstretched fingers. "_You_ did this, Laufeyson."

"N-No... I'm not—"

"No, what? Not a Laufeyson?" The other Loki scoffed. "As if Odin's claim that he loved you in his dying moments erased your past? He only loved you like one loves a favorite pet. Never forget who you are, _runt." _The apparition morphed into Odin, scowling at Loki in disdain, "Your birthright was to die!"

Odin twirled the scepter in his hands as he advanced and when Loki tried to back away, he found himself frozen in place. The apparition shifted once again, its skin bubbling as it first took on Loki's face before settling into a more Jotun-like appearance. The scepter stopped twirling before it was thrust into Loki's chest, right where the Kursed's blade had pierced his flesh, years ago.

The Jotun laughed as a pair of gleaming black horns protruded from its head. Its skin cracked and peeled away glowing with the same otherworldly blue as the staff.

"Face it, _Laufeyson," _the monster crouched in front of him as Loki struggled to breath past the blood filling up his lungs. The monster grasped Loki's temples and sunk black tipped claws into his flesh. "You bring death and destruction everywhere you go. With everything you do. You are the reason they are all dead. Laufey. Frigga. Odin. Even the Asgardians who died facing Thanos, died only because of your actions..." It smiled a terrible smile, lips cracking and peeling apart to dribble black blood. "I suppose it's only a matter of time before it's Thor's turn."

Loki couldn't voice any protests past the blood dribbling down his... its? theirs?... lips.

"You don't deserve to live." The creature's eyes glowed so brightly it was almost as if there was a fire lighting them up. "How about I relieve you of this burden, hmm?"

With those words, the monster let go of Loki's head to wrench out the scepter from Loki's chest. And with it, Loki's still beating heart. The monster plucked it off the scepter before holding it out to Loki, who reached for his heart with trembling hands. The creature let out a mad cackle and turn it to ice before Loki could take his heart back, letting the frozen thing shatter at Loki's feet.

"Father should have let you die on that frozen wasteland," the nightmare creature morphed into Thor as he scowled at Loki. There was a gaping hole in Thor's chest and blood dribbling down his chin, the shattered remains of Mjolnir held aloft in his hand and Loki whimpered. "None of this would have happened if you had just died. Mother would still be alive. Father would still be here. _Asgard _would not just be a handful of refugees, struggling to find shelter."

With a mighty roar, Thor brought down Mjolnir, the shattered hammer splintering Loki's ribs into a million pieces. The scream died in his throat as something heavy landed on his shoulder and wrenched him from the nightmare into wakefulness. Feeling more than seeing the ominous shadow looming above him, Loki tumbled back with a strangled cry. He fell off his perch, teeth knocking together as he scrambled back on his hands and knees.

"Loki, brother, it's only me, Thor." Wha— but hadn't Thor just shattered Loki's— no wait... where was Mjolnir? and that hole... wasn't there a hole in his chest because Loki killed Thor? that wasn't right... where was — Thor?

Loki tried to swallow the laugh that only ended up as a half-strangled sob. Running a hand through his hair, he clutched at the ends as understanding came slowly. _I'm losing my mind..._

"Loki?"

"What do you want?" Loki snapped but his voice was too hoarse for it to be effective. _Thor will be the next to die._

"I heard you screaming and—"

"And you came to gloat at the weakling?"

"What? No! I was just worried about you."

"Worried?" Loki scoffed as he crossed his arms. He pushed away the heavy lump of shame that tried settling in his chest at Thor's kicked puppy look. "Little late for that, isn't it? Where was this worry of yours when you left me on Sakaar? Or when you abandoned me on Asgard?"

Thor looked so shocked, as though he had no idea what Loki meant. His next words erased any doubts Loki might have had. "Loki, what are you talking about?"

"Don't tell me these are more of my _perceived slights_." Loki spat, throwing back the words Thor had used a long time ago. "You had no regard for my well-being when you left me writhing on the ground, tortured by obedience disk, ripe for the Grandmaster's taking. It was pure chance, Korg found me first. What exactly did you think the Grandmaster would have done to me, had he been the one to find me, hmm?"

Understanding and horror dawned on Thor's face but before the idiot could utter some meaningless apology, Loki cut him off. "The Grandmaster does not take kindly to those who betray his trust. Surely you were there when the Grandmaster used the melting stick on his cousin, were you not?"

"Loki, I didn't think—"

"And that has always been your problem, hasn't it, Thor? You never think! Yet anything that ever goes wrong has to be my fault. You called me the worst for taking the Tesseract from Odin's Vaults, but how, pray tell, did you think I was supposed to leave the Vaults after resurrecting Surtur?"

"You are a skywalker, I thought that would have let you escape to safety."

"As if skywalking was a mere trick," Loki scoffed. "The paths between realms open only in specific places on Asgard, none of which happen to be inside the Vaults and Surtur's flames would have caught up to me long before I could have left the palace. But you turned the Statesman around without any care of what became of me."

"Because I thought you could have escaped via skywalking!" Thor burst out before seeming to swallow his anger. When he continued, his tone had taken on a cautious edge, the kind that Loki had seen the stable master often take with easily spooked colts. "I did not come here to fight you brother."

Loki bristled. "Of course not. Because that would make you lose the moral high ground."

"Loki, what are you talking about?" The frustration was clear on Thor's face. Loki could see the oaf struggling to keep his tone civil.

_That's it, a little nudge is all it will take. Push him over the edge._

"Go ahead and pin the blame on me," Loki all but snarled. "After all, I'm the evil one. The villain to your hero, am I not? Go on, _brother_, tell me it's all in my head."

"Loki, why would—" Thor sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before taking a deep breath. He seemed to hold it in for a moment before exhaling loudly. When he looked up at Loki again, his expression was earnest and clear. "I know what you're trying to do here, brother but pushing me away is not going to work. If you're worried about what happened outside the vaults, having a panic attack does not make you weak. I don't think any less of you now, than I did before."

Loki grit his teeth. "Not everything has to be about you or what you think."

"I not saying it is, Loki." Thor sounded patient, as though he were humoring Loki now.

"Yet, you immediately assumed that the reason for my anger must be my fear of what you think of me? You think—"

Loud footsteps coming down the hall interrupted Loki's rant and he cursed at the timing of whoever it was.

_Don't fret, darling. I'll be happy to take the oaf off your hands. _Hela murmured in Loki's ear and he barely managed to suppress a flinch. Moments later, Banner, Eitri and a teenaged dwarf appeared from the shadowed hallway. The teen held two wrapped bundles in his arms though Loki's attention was drawn to the dwarf king who now looked more like a king then when Loki had first arrived on Nidavellir. Dressed in clean clothes, Eitri's beard was neatly trimmed and his hair was properly tied in complex braids befitting his station. In place of the metallic stumps on his arms, Eitri wore uru prosthetics, the dark metal gleaming on his fingers.

"King Thor, Crown Prince Loki, I cannot thank you enough for the aid you have rendered to my people today," Eitri said ceremoniously. "If not for you, the last of my people would have faced a slow, agonizing death, and I would have perished as a failure of a king. Crown Prince Loki, your aid in rescuing our civilians from the Vaults when I could not was invaluable."

It had been so long since Loki had last been on the receiving end of such earnest gratitude. Wrong-footed, Loki struggled to come up with an appropriate response. "I uh... I was only doing my duty as a prince of Asgard."

"Nevertheless, your help is highly appreciated." Eitri bowed his head to Loki before turning to address Thor. "King Thor, I have discussed your offer with the surviving councilmembers and we have come to an agreement."

Loki wondered if anyone would notice if he slunk off. All his life, he had wanted for nothing more than for his efforts to be acknowledged without being suspected for having ulterior motives. Now, he wasn't quite certain on what to feel. Besides, conjuring a measly portal when he had an infinity stone was nothing. Eitri would soon come to his senses and see the truth for what it was. And then, Loki would be in the same position as always, disappointed.

"—will be happy to help," Thor was saying and Loki forced himself to pay attention. "Once your people have gathered what they need and locked down Nidavellir, we can send you to Midgard. The Asgardians have taken refuge on the planet and I am certain the people will happily welcome you."

Loki bit the inside of his cheek, certain that Thor would not welcome his suggestion that they send the dwarves to Saraab. After all, Thor had no idea of what Loki had witnessed from the Hlidskjalf during his time posing as Odin. Thor didn't know that his shield brothers had torn themselves apart with petty infighting in their so called 'civil war'. After all, Thor was too busy shirking his duties to the throne and gallivanting across the galaxy. Which meant that Thor also didn't know about the stricter regulations that the governing bodies of Midgard had wanted to impose on the comings and goings of their heroes. In light of the volatile climate of the planet, Loki doubted the Midgardians would be very happy about a steady influx of refugees. The Asgardians, they would have had to accept because of Thor, but Loki truly believed Saraab would be a better place for the dwarven refugees.

Though if Loki were to voice that advice now, when Thor had already decided on a course of action, would not only serve to undermine Thor's authority as king, but also less likely to be heeded by his brother. Which, come to think of it...

"Thor, perhaps we can send them somewhere else, instead. The humans might not be so happy with us if we keep on sending refugees without notice."

"I am certain our advisors will be able to sort out the matters with the people of earth." Thor shook his head, acting just as Loki had predicted. "They will be safer with the Asgardians to bolster their numbers."

Which was sound reasoning for wanting to keep them all in one place but at the same, Thor didn't know what Loki did. He had been meaning to catch Thor up to speed on the on goings of his favorite planet before Thanos had derailed that plan. And then, it hadn't seemed all that important for Loki in light of everything else. But now... Loki couldn't argue further without making Thor look incompetent.

"Very well." Loki pursed his lips.

"Now that that is settled," Eitri clapped his hands and his assistant hastily unwrapped the first of the packages. It was a war axe, polished to perfection with a well engraved metallic handle that was, unlike Mjolnir, only partially wrapped in leather. Eitri picked it up and presented the axe to Thor. "King Thor, I present to you, the axe Stormbreaker. It was designed to be one of the greatest weapons of Asgard. Odin had the design commissioned a long time ago however he decided to not have it forged. Stormbreaker is also capable of summoning the energy of the Bifrost."

Loki felt a flush of jealousy in his veins as his oaf of a brother accepted the majestic weapon and shifted it from hand to hand, testing its balance and feel. Thor grinned, openly and honestly as he bowed to the dwarf king. "I thank you for your generosity, King Eitri."

"And now," Eitri said as he retrieved the second bundle and began to unwrap it himself to reveal a spear. It was of a design similar to Gungnir, though unlike orichalcum and uru alloy used in Gungnir, this weapon's staff was made purely of uru. The spear's three pronged tip, however, was composed of a shimmering iridescent metal. It took Loki a moment to place it as Niflheim's Bismuthe, a metal that was rare due to how difficult it was to mine from the bottom of the frozen rivers of Elivagar. Unlike its elemental form that existed elsewhere in the cosmos, Niflheim's Bismuthe was highly conductive of seidr, even more so than Uru and thus was highly sought after mages. The only other warrior mage to wield any considerable amount of it was the legendary Mimir. "For your services to the dwarves of Nidavellir, Crown Prince Loki, I present to you, the spear, Chaosmaker."

Grievances forgotten for a while, Loki moved forward as if in a dream, reaching for the spear with shaky hands. The moment it made contact with his skin, a wordless song rang inside his mind uplifting Loki's spirits as his seidr welcomed the weapon and vice versa. He wondered if this was how Thor had felt when he'd first gotten Mjolnir. If so, Loki could certainly understand why the oaf had refused set down the stupid hammer for a week, taking it everywhere with him until in a fit of frustration Loki had glued it to Thor's hands via seidr. Mother had given Loki the token admonishment when Thor had complained but she had left the spell in place till that evening claiming that it to come off on its own even though she could have undone Loki's spell with her eyes closed. Her amused smile had been well worth Odin's frown of disapproval and the subsequent punishment of having to help the stable master take care of the newly acquired eight-legged colt Sleipnir.

"Chaosmaker." Thor laughed as he clapped Loki on the back and grinned. "An apt name for your weapon, Brother."

"I thank you for your generosity, King Eitri," Loki inclined his head with a smile, deciding to store the spear in his pocket dimension as soon as he could without offending anyone. He was not going to make a fool of himself like Thor had with Mjolnir. "This is a truly remarkable weapon."

"Odin was the one who had the design commissioned though it was Queen Frigga who proposed the use of Niflheim Bismuthe for the spear's tip."

_If that were the case, why did they never present it to me? _Loki bit back the question, refusing to act like a little boy hurt by the fact that he hadn't gotten any presents.

"Mother must have done so because of Bismuthe's ability to conduct seidr, brother." Thor grinned.

"I am aware, Thor." Loki refused to feel guilty when Thor's smile dimmed at his tone. "King Eitri, if your people are ready, perhaps we should move to the workshop and begin the process for your departure?"

"Yes, they ought to be finished sealing the forge by now." Eitri nodded and turned to lead the way, the teen following after his king after offering them a shallow bow. Banner looked between Loki and Thor with a furrowed brow.

"Guys, is everything okay here?"

"Yes, everything is fine, Banner," Loki said curtly and moved past the man before Thor could try and stop Loki to continue their earlier conversation.

_I will have to get rid of him quickly one the dwarves are gone... Hela may have Thor over my dead body._

Loki arrived at the workshop to find the soon to be refugees standing in a loosely circular formation with their belongings packed inside wooden or metal trunks and chests laid at their feet. A few stood without any luggage whatsoever though Loki suspected those were the sorcerer's who had their stuff neatly tucked away in their dimensional pockets.

More than a few dwarves gave appreciative glances at the Chaosmaker though none of them broke formation to approach Loki. The nameless teen that had been accompanying Eitri was nowhere to be seen. With a lazy wave of his hand, Loki summoned the Tesseract and channeled seidr through the infinity stone, focusing on the same place where he had sent the Asgardians. Now that he didn't have to shield upwards of a thousand people from psychic sight, Loki barely felt the strain on his seidr, despite the vast distance involved.

Eitri motioned for his people to move as soon as the portal appeared and the dwarves began to file through in a neat line. Eitri waited until the last of his people had passed before turning to Loki with a solemn nod.

"I know you and your brother plan on gathering the remaining infinity stones before Thanos," Eitri said as he reached into his pocket. "Thanos had the gauntlet forged so that it could channel the power of all six of the stones together. While it does possess the ability to do that, I might have accidentally left in a power feedback loop that would cause irreversible harm to the gauntlet's wielder as soon as it is used to channel all the stones. These however," Eitri held out his hand to display a set of six rings, "have no such compunctions. Whoever wears a ring shall be able to channel an infinity stone without harm so long as they have a strong enough will."

Loki accepted the rings though when he made to withdraw his hand, he found Eitri had clasped it in his prosthetic one.

"I am sorry that for one so young, you have had to endure so much suffering, Prince Loki. And I am sorrier still that you may have yet to see more."

There was an understanding and kindness in the dwarf king's eyes that twisted Loki's insides into painful knots. He did not want nor need that from a virtual stranger. Especially when his own brother had had such difficulty identifying that something was wrong with Loki despite knowing him for over a millennium. Swallowing the painful lump in his throat, Loki inclined his head in a wordless thanks, not wanting to offend the dwarf king.

Eitri's heavy footsteps echoed inside the workshop as the dwarf king turned and followed his people through the portal to Midgard. With a heavy sigh, Loki let the portal collapse.

"Skulking in the shadows doesn't become of you, Thor. And Banner, I had really expected better from you than to eavesdrop," Loki said as he turned around. A moment later, his idiot brother and said idiot brother's friend stepped out from behind a pillar. "I think it will be for the best if we split up. Now that you have the means to traverse the galaxy via Stormbreaker, you don't require my services anymore."

"Loki, I don't think that's such a good idea," Thor said cautiously, seemingly hesitant to restart an argument.

"Oh? Pray tell why you think _this _is a bad idea?" Loki demanded coolly. "Is it because I'm the one who suggested it?

"Loki, why must you keep twisting my words and intentions?" Thor sounded so tired. And was that a hint of bitterness in his voice?

"I'm a villain, remember? It's what we're good at," Loki said, wrapping indifference and arrogance around himself like an armor, pretending that it didn't hurt. "Also, you're deflecting. Tell me, Thor, why is splitting up such a bad idea? Especially when we may be able to cover more ground."

Thor struggled to come up with a response and Loki grinned in triumph. "See? If Banner had been the one to suggest it, you would have ordered me to send you two away in a heartbeat."

"Loki, I value your advice. I really do," Thor said earnestly and Loki jumped on the opportunity the oaf had foolishly provided.

"Like you valued my advice when I suggested we send the dwarves to Sarab? You didn't even bother asking for a reason. Did you think I was trying to undermine your authority? Go against your directive as King?" Anger, centuries in the making, coiled in his gut so viciously, it surprised even Loki himself.

"Because it makes sense to keep all the people under our protection someplace they will have the advantage of numbers on their side!"

"As opposed to the advantage provided by occupying an obscure moon no one really cares about?" Loki hissed, his grip tightening on the Tesseract still clutched in one hand. "I don't know why I expected things to be different now. You're still the same as you were before."

"Loki, brother, I didn't mean to slight your feelings. I was only—"

"Slight my feelings?" Loki scoffed. "Thor, you claim to have grown wiser, yet you act the same as you did before your coronation. I am only ever useful to you for my _tricks_ but the moment your goal is achieved, you brush me aside. You have never cared to listen to my advice. Back on the Statesman, when I suggested that we should not confront Thanos, you thought me a coward for wanting to run but the moment Valkyrie brought up the idea, you were all for it. I tell you that we need to split up and you do not listen. But the moment _Banner_ brings it up, you will agree!"

"Loki, I haven't—"

"I suggest you stay out of this, Doctor Banner," Loki hissed, cutting off the man before rounding on his brother. Thor was staring at Loki, wide-eyed as though the moron had never seen him before. Tossing three of the rings at Banner who fumbled to catch them, Loki continued, "I was a fool to have been taken in by your pretty words, Thor when your actions have made it crystal clear just where I stand with you. No matter, Banner had a hand in creating our plan of action, so I trust you won't have an issue doing what needs to be done. You should be able to retrieve the Aether from the Collector without having to rely on any more of tricks. Banner can accompany you. Trade the Hulk with The Collector for the stone if you must."

Ignoring Banner's look of alarm or Thor's cry of "Loki, wait!" Loki summoned a portal behind the pair and Loki slid it across the floor. He watched it swallow his brother and Banner, letting the portal collapse before his oaf of a brother could return. For a long time, he stared at the spot that his brother had stood moments before, loathing the near-silent sob that escaped him as Loki crashed to his knees. Breathing hard, he let the Tesseract drop to the floor with a loud clatter.

_Do you think pushing away the oaf will let him live longer? _

Ignoring the whispering monster, Loki drew in a ragged breath and fought for composure.

_The curse of your existence has already taken root in our brother, darling, _Hela crooned over his shoulder and Loki squeezed his eyes shut._ Sooner or later, he _will_ die and you will have no one to blame but yourself._

"I won't let you have him," Loki whispered as an irrational panic beat its wings against his sternum. "Do you hear me, goddess of Death? I won't let you have him!"

_Oh, but I'm not really here, am I? You killed me too, little brother. _Hela laughed and laughed until she was cackling. Tears streamed down Loki's cheeks as he howled, a part of him recognizing the laughter echoing all around him as his own. That's right. He'd resurrected Surtur to murder Hela. Destroyed Asgard to save Asgard. And now he was talking to voices inside his head.

_First sign of madness, Liesmith. Although, aren't you already mad? _

Loki threw his head back and laughed and laughed and laughed until he couldn't breathe. At some point, he ended up lying on the floor, staring up at the towering ceiling above him, the glowing frescoes depicting a detailed history of the first dynasty of Nidavellir dwarves. Breathless, he continued to chuckle as he absently followed the red-haired dwarf king through a victorious battle against the trolls to claim possession of the neutron star that would spawn the first of the dwarven forges. Loki giggled as the nameless dwarf king signed a treaty with a young King Bor.

Slowly, Loki started pushing everything into a corner of his mind, putting up shields upon shields, cordoning off everything that had led to his breakdown. Swallowing back the nausea, Loki sat up and scrubbed his face, combing his hair with his fingers. Pulling out a mirror from his dimensional pocket, Loki frowned at the wraith-like caricature of his face before conjuring an illusion of the well-put-together trickster god the realms knew of. Looking around, he spotted the remaining rings scattered on the floor next to the Tesseract, Chaosmaker floating upright two feet off the ground. Sending everything except for the Tesseract into his dimensional pocket, Loki stood up. Halfway through summoning a portal to Stephen Strange's New York Sanctum, Loki froze as he realized his mistake.

Of the three of them, Banner was supposed to have been the one to warn the Midgardians about their oncoming doom and Loki, in his haste to be rid of Thor had forgotten that. As the Midgardians were so fond of saying, "Shit…"

Loki weighed in his options, immediately discarding the idea of going to Nowhere to retrieve Banner. There was no way Loki was going to face Thor just then. Not after all the trouble he had just gone through to push the idiot away in the first place. _I won't let you have him, Hela._

Gritting his teeth, Loki searched his surrounding for a spark of inspiration. Since retrieving Banner and sending him off on his merry way no longer possible, Loki _could _try going in his stead. Though that ran the risk of Loki not being believed about Thanos. Given how Loki was most assuredly _not _an avenger. Unless…

Loki smirked at the beginnings. Closing his eyes, Loki shapeshifted into a different appearance, glamoring his clothing to match. He knew he would need to time it perfectly as he summoned the portal to the New York sanctum. He stepped through, dismissing the portal and the Tesseract in a move so fast, no human could have any hope to follow. Gasping for breath, he pretending to stumble and crashed into Strange and his fat manservant, sending the two tumbling to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Making sure to grind his hands into someplace extra painful for the second-rate sorcerer, Loki struggled to his feet and looked at the two in wide-eyed fear.

"He's coming!" gasped Doctor Bruce Banner, "Thanos is coming!"


	5. Catching Up and Getting Caught

Strange's rotund assistant led Loki to the library, instructing him to wait while Strange consulted with his fellow magicians on the veracity of his claims. Loki nodded, using the time probe and passively study the magic that these Midgardian practitioners had put in place around the building. Many of their castings drew on and maintained themselves through extra-dimensional energy, which, Loki had to admit was a clever workaround to the limitations on the level of power that these sorcerers could normally call upon without its help. It had been centuries since Loki had interacted with any Midgardian practitioner and looking around him, he could easily say that they had come a long way.

Some of their workings were downright fascinating considering the source of their origin. Loki would have been unsurprised to see such spells in effect someplace in Alfheim though to find them here on Midgard… _I wonder if someone from Alfheim disregarded Odin's ban and decided to approach the Midgardians while hidden from sight. _The similarities in their spell formation were too unlikely to be coincidental, though Loki could ponder on the implications of that later. Right now, he had a cover to keep.

"Thanos can be here any day," Loki insisted in Banner's voice, when the assistant started moving towards the exit, "we need to get the Avengers."

"A lot has happened during the time you've been away, Doctor Banner," Wong said, keeping his tone gentle. "Getting the Avengers might be a little harder than you think."

"What? Why? Are they away on a mission?" Loki enjoyed watching him struggle to come up with appropriate responses that would not risk triggering the Hulk. The man had been trying his best to get who he believed to be Banner, used to the idea that the Avengers were no longer shield brothers without having to outright say it.

"You could say that," Wong answered cautiously.

"All of them? Really?" he injected a hint of surprise in Banner's response.

The man fumbled for an answer, glancing towards the library door uncertainly. "I guess Stark might still be in New York?"

"Tony's here? Oh thank God. We should go see him then," Loki said, pushing past him towards the main door. "He can call the others and let them know I'm back."

"There won't be a need for that," Strange said, throwing the doors wide open as he marched inside. As much as Loki disliked the secondrate, he could admit that the sorcerer had a flair for making dramatic entrances. Nothing on the same level as Loki, but he could appreciate a good entrance when it was made, though he had to wonder if Strange had placed an eavesdropping spell on the library. His entrance had been timed so perfectly.

"Have you found the rest of the Avengers?" Loki remembered not to sound too demanding as he pitched his tone to sound desperate.

"Bruce?" Tony Stark whispered as he stepped out from behind the secondrate, his face a mask of disbelief, and was that a hint of relief? The inventor seemed to have aged decades within the span of a few years since Loki had seen him last. Grey hair was prominent at his temples and stress lines all over his face. "When Bleaker Street Magician showed up at the park, I wasn't sure I believed him but… you're here. He said you were in _space?"_

"I know. Crazy, right?" Loki added just a touch of hysteria and disbelief to sell it.

"Crazy doesn't even begin to describe it," Stark muttered, though he smiled at Loki and the years disappeared from the inventor's face. "I'm glad to see that you're back. How did you end up in space in the first place? I can't say I designed the quinjet for interstellar travel and I'd be really impressed if your answer turns out to be that the Hulk repurposed it. Or did you repurpose it? What was it? FTL? Hyperdrive?"

"Actually, I'm not really sure _how _I ended up on Sakaar," Loki said. It took barely a thought to mimic Banner's countless recountings of his adventures on Sakaar for the Asgardian refugees. Loki added a helpless shrug before continuing. "I was the Hulk for most of it and my memory is really fuzzy on some of the stuff that happened even before I turned so, I don't know what to tell you."

"Oh? How is Big Green anyway? I heard you guys had an encounter with Final Boss up there."

"The Hulk is… upset. He doesn't like being beaten and well… Thanos kicked his butt."

"So that's his name, huh? Thanos. You know, I saw this coming six years ago," there was vindictiveness in Stark's voice and in him Loki saw a kindred soul. "I saw it but no one believed me. They claimed it was all in my head. That I was obsessing over nothing. But I was right all along!"

Loki nodded, making sure to add a touch of repentance to his posture as he spoke. "I know, and I'm sorry for the part I played in all of that but we need to call the others. You have some way to get them here, right? We need to figure out how we're going to counter him."

"No can do. Sorry but the Avengers broke up," Stark answered, crossing his arms as he looked away.

"Broke up? What? Like the Beatles?" In his mind, Loki thanked Hawkeye for catching him up on various aspects of Midgardian pop culture. He'd tried staying abreast of the culture and developments on various realms over the centuries but sometimes he fell behind.

Stark gave him a sharp glance before shaking his head and looking away. "Not that we were a music band but I suppose that analogy could work here, yeah."

"Do you have any way to get in touch with them? More importantly, do you think they might listen to you?"

Stark shifted uneasily, making an aborted motion towards his pocket before dropping his hand. "No, I don't have any way to contact them. And honestly? I don't think any of them would listen to me even if I did. They'll probably think I'm trying to trick them or some shit. We don't need them, anyway."

"...What happened?"

"Stark, be very careful about what you say," the secondrate decided to interject and Loki bristled.

"I'm not going to Hulk out in the middle of your precious, whatever this place is."

"Yeah, have a bit more trust in Brucie Bear and Big Green," Stark said as he came over and clapped Loki on the back. "We had a difference of opinion on oversight after the fall of SHIELD. I said we needed accountability, Rogers disagreed. We had a mega showdown in an airport, Nat decided she liked Rogers more and stabbed our side in the metaphorical back. Then Rogers decided his popsicle friend was more important and almost literally stabbed me in the back. Or should I say almost smashed my chest in with his shield. I guess he could argue that I deserved it for choosing to work with Thaddeus Ross but to that I'll say 'ever heard of keep your friends close and enemies closer?' By the way, Ross, total dickhead. No wonder you Hulk out every time you two meet. Two minutes into our first meeting, I wanted to punch him in the face too, which is a new record by the way. Have I told you how glad I am to see you?"

With that, Stark closed the distance between them and Loki found himself enveloped in an unexpected hug. He stiffened at the contact and had to force himself to relax before Stark began to suspect that something was amiss. "I'm glad to be back, as well." Loki settled on in the end. He carefully extricated himself from the embrace and decided a change in topic was needed. "So, uh, remember how Loki wanted to get Tesseract a few years back?"

"Let me guess, Thanos sent him?"

"Thanos sent him," Loki nodded, wondering if he ought to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding that incident. He weighed the pros and cons of letting that information slip though Stark took the decision out of his hands when he spoke up.

"Huh... To be honest with you, judging on what Thor had told us of his brother, I wouldn't have pegged Reindeer Games to be the lackey type."

"Funny you should mention that," Loki said, adding a touch of hesitation to Banner's tone as he did. "Turns out, Loki wasn't a hundred percent in his mind during that time."

Stark quirked a skeptical brow. "You're telling me, this Thanos guy mind-controlled Loki and then _gave _said mind-controlling device to the guy he'd just turned into his personal flying monkey?"

"No, it was more subtle then that. It influenced his thoughts, altered his memories and made him more susceptible to his negative emotions. Something that Loki wouldn't have noticed right away or tried to look too closely at, at the time."

"And you know this because?" Strange piped in, arms crossed. Loki resisted the urge to scowl and settled for giving the man a flat stare.

"I ran into Loki and Thor on Sakaar. Parts of the truth came out during our time together."

"Hang on, back up a little, Loki is _alive_?" Stark gaped. "Thor said he'd died during the whole convergence fiasco!"

Loki remembered waking up alone in the ashen fields of Svartalfheim, alone with a sluggishly healing chest wound, coughing up blood that had filled his punctured lung and suppressed the instinctive shudder that came with. He'd thought for sure he would have died and yet, the death had rejected him just as it had when he had fallen off the Bifrost.

"You okay there, Bruce?" Stark's cautious tone pulled Loki away from the abyss before his thoughts could wind up in a downward spiral.

"I don't know how Loki survived. I don't think even Loki knows how he survived but Thor didn't know the truth until a few weeks ago," Loki shrugged, moving the conversation to safer waters. "Anyway, that's not important. Remember the Tesseract and that stone in Loki's scepter? There are four more of those and Thanos wants all six. He's known as the Mad Titan and his ultimate goal is to wipe out half of all life in the universe. And he needs those stones to achieve his goal."

"They're called the Infinity Stones," Wong said, conjuring an illusion of the stones, "and they each control an essential aspect of the universe. Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and Time."

"Right now, Thanos has the most dangerous stone of the set in his possession, the Power Stone," Loki told them, a pang of regret for the destruction wrought on the Nova Empire in his chest. Though the Mad Titan touted his wish to only eradicate half of the population of every planet that he visited, there were times when Thanos felt the need to wipe out the species entirely. Xandar would have been obliterated, if only to make an example of what became of those that tried to resist the Mad Titan. "Loki has the Tesseract but Thanos is aware that the Mind Stone is here on earth. There were rumors that another one might also be here but we didn't have the time to locate where it might be or which one."

Strange's jaw tightened at his words and Loki suppressed the urge to smirk. The gaudy artifact hanging around the secondrate's neck was good at shielding the Time Stone's presence but Loki had caught onto the thread of Alfheim-like magic cast around the eye and inferred its purpose.

"So, if Thanos needs all six, why don't we just find this other stone and stick it in the garbage disposal?" Stark suggested.

"Who know what might happen to all of existence if you tried to destroy one of the stones," Strange said. "Besides, I doubt there is a garbage disposal powerful enough to destroy an aspect of the _universe."_

"I'm sure we could try anyway," Stark shot back.

"And if it unravels all of existence?" Strange demanded, taking a step towards the inventor.

Stark drew himself up to glare at the sorcerer. "I guess we'll have accomplished our mission to keep Thanos from succeeding."

"By doing his job _for_ him."

"Before we try to destroy these stones, we still need to find them," Loki as Banner said, stepping between the two posturing heroes. "Unless you have some way of tracking them down?"

"There are a few artifacts that may be capable of such a feat," Strange admitted as he turned away, "though we already know where the Time Stone is. As for the Vision, Stark must be keeping track of his latest super-bot."

"Yeah… That might be a problem. Vision turned off his transponder two weeks ago. He's currently offline."

"So you lost him," Strange said, his flat tone carrying the weight of his disappointment which, oddly enough, reminded Loki of Odin.

"I didn't _lose _him." Stark bristled. "He's evolving. Learning. Growing into his own person. I can't keep mother-henning him all the time."

"You can when he's in possession of one of the infinity stones," Strange shot back.

"So you want me to what? Chip him like a pet?"

That was when a woman's scream pierced the air. Arguments forgotten, the four exchanged looks of alarm before shooting towards the library's exit as one. Sensing the need for urgency, the Sanctum conjured a door that led right to the entrance hall. Loki fell back, letting the others take the lead as he took a moment to take stock of the situation. Midgardians ran down the streets in panic, clearly running away from something he couldn't see from inside the sanctum though judging by a few of them pointing at the sky, he could make a fair guess. Sure enough, when he did step outside, he could see a Q-ship kicking up dust and debris as it descended towards the city. The dust made it hard to see very far though it appeared as though the Black Order intended to land the ship right in the middle of the city. After all, the Black Order would hardly care for property damage on the planets they conquered in their 'father's' name. Not when they intended to wipe out half the population to honor the Mad Titan's obsession with death.

They made their way through the throngs of panicked humans running about, the 'heroes' redirecting them towards safety, not that many of them needed to be told to run in the direction opposite to the giant flying ring of doom above their heads. As they drew nearer to the Q-ship's intended landing site, it was near impossible to see due to the debris until Strange summoned a clearing spell with a flourish of his hands. He sent it racing at the ship, calming the raging winds around them. In the meantime, Stark pulled a pair of glasses and used them to inquire about any stragglers from his digital assistant. The woman rattled of a few street names where humans were still trapped in their vehicles and Wong offered to go rescue them. No sooner had the magician's portal vanished that a transporter beam from the ship deposit two of Thanos's children in the street before them.

Cull Obsidian shouldered his chain hammer as he straightened though it was the sight of Ebony Maw, spreading out his hands that sent Loki's heartbeat stuttering.

_Impossible… My curse should have finished him off. _It was an effort on Loki's part not to let his panic show at the sight of the sadistic creature. Because _nothing _should have been able to survive that curse and yet, here stood Ebony Maw in all his wrinkled glory. And if Maw had the power to survive that curse, could Loki really take him on? What if... What if Maw got the better of him and-

_There will be no barren moon where you can hide... _

Wait... Did the Other know about Saraab? Did the Black Order? If they knew then Loki couldn't go back there. He would have to find another safe house. Or keep running for the rest of his life.

"Hear me and rejoice," Maw's announcement broke Loki's train of thought, "you are about to die at the hands of the children of Thanos. Be thankful that your meaningless lives will soon be—"

"Nope, sorry, Earth is closed today. That means you've got to beam up and go home, E.T."

The barest hint of annoyance flashed across Maw's face at Stark's interruption, though when he spoke, he addressed Strange. "Stonekeeper, does this chattering animal speak for you?"

Loki's earlier suspicion that the secondrate magician was in possession of the Time Stone.

"Certainly not, I speak for myself," Strange marched ahead and summoned glowing mandalas around his wrists. "You are trespassing in this city and on this planet." Wong returned from his task of assisting civilians to assist his… master? What exactly was the relation between the knockoff and the fat one? Was he an apprentice? A serf? Whatever he may have been, Wong came to stand at the secondrate's side, mandalas at the ready as he took up a fighting stance.

Loki bit back a scoff.

Midgardians… could be so melodramatic at times. Loki appreciated a good display of showmanship but really, their spells were so inefficient when it came to energy requirements. Loki could list seven ways off the top of his head that could have accomplished what these sorcerers wanted, without expending even half as much or needing to tap into extra-dimensional sources for power. The mandalas certainly _looked_ impressive but these Midgardian mages lacked the finesse employed by their Alfheim counterparts. Those golden sparks flying around everywhere wasted so much energy. If Loki had an inclination to feel generous towards the mortal sorcerers, he might have allowed some room for the fact that the mortals lacked any inherent magic and therefore their spellcasting could not be as elegant as the Ljosalfar. Since Loki was _not _in fact feeling said inclination to be generous, he merely rolled his eyes at the display.

The heroes clearly had the situation handled. At least as far as keeping the enemy distracted was concerned. Maw attention was focused on Strange so Loki used the opportunity to investigate Maw's survival. Masking his magic, Loki sent out invisible tendrils and opened his senses to see if whatever it was that Maw had done, carried its own signature.

"He's telling you to get lost, Squidward," Stark seemed utterly unafraid that Maw could impale him on a street sign without so much as a flick of a finger. Did the man even know about Maw's telepathy? But then Loki recalled how Stark had dared to stand before him, unprotected in his own tower and offered Loki a drink instead of running like any sane person might have done. It truly was a pity they hadn't met under differing circumstances.

Standing in perfect repose, Maw ordered Cull to retrieve the stone. The latter smashed his chain hammer in the ground, dragging it through the asphalt as he advanced on them. Seeing the lumbering giant heading their way, Stark finally seemed to remember Loki's presence. "Hey Brucie, you want a piece of the action?"

Loki could see two paths before him. He could either play along with Stark and shapeshift into the Hulk, using his magic to augment his strength and invulnerability to mimic the green brute or…

"No, not really," he sighed and watched as Stark's face fell, "then again, when do I ever get what I want." He made a great show of trying to force the transformation, letting the green creep along his exposed skin at a snail's pace.

"Anytime now, buddy." Stark shifted on his feet uneasily as Obsidian lumbered closer. "Don't embarrass me in front of the wizards."

"I'm _trying_," Loki as Banner said through grit teeth. "Hulk and I are trying to work through some things."

"Can you two work on those any faster? Rock Monster is almost here. We need the big guy to hold him off."

"I'm trying, okay? The Hulk got his ass handed to him by Thanos and now he doesn't want to come out." To emphasize his point, Loki partially transformed his face into the beast's and growled a "No!" before turning back into Banner. Gasping for breath, Loki turned to Stark and let his shoulders slump in defeat. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay buddy, you tried." Stark patted him consolingly on the shoulder before turning to Wong. "Could you get him to safety, please?"

The man nodded, not even giving Loki the chance to offer a token protest before whisking him away from the fight via portal. Loki tried not to frown at the assistant who was doing what he thought constituted as protecting a non-combatant. Then again, Loki couldn't have helped them out without giving himself away. And he still needed to figure out how in Hel's name Maw was still alive before he could even consider revealing himself. He needed to know the risk before he took that chance.

Loki sent an astral projection to where Stark and the secondrate were making a stand against two of Thanos's strongest lieutenants. He'd expected to see the two on the defensive though much to his surprise and grudging respect, Stark was holding his own against Obsidian surprisingly well. Strange on the other hand… Loki smirked, standing back to enjoy the arrogant mortal receive his comeuppance as Maw's telepathy got the best of him. Though Loki knew that he ought to be worried when Maw bound Strange to mortar and demanded the Time Stone, he only felt a vindictive pleasure to see the mortal being put in his place. Loki had neither forgotten nor forgiven the secondrate for what he had done when Thor had dragged him to Midgard in search for Odin. Falling endlessly through space had brought back memories of the void. Memories that Loki had worked so hard to push away and Strange had dragged everything back to the fore. For that alone, Loki would let the mortal suffer.

When Strange refused to relinquish his hold on the Time Stone, Maw tightened the binds till Loki could hear the snapping of bone and that was when Strange choked out a warning about a deadman's spell. Loki frowned. Who in the nine realms had taught that particular spell to these mortal magicians? Not that it wasn't turning out to be useful, preventing Maw from claiming the Time Stone and letting Loki enjoy Strange's torment but really, just who— it had to be one of the Ljsoalfar. They were the only ones who so easily disregarded the consequences of sharing their knowledge so freely. Nevermind that Loki had taken advantage of that particular trait of their on more than one occasion over the centuries.

Loki, as Banner, narrowly avoided getting crushed under a midgardian vehicle as it flew through a portal, along with a hefty chunk of Cull Obsidian's arm. Moments later, Stark's spiderchild was swinging through the area playing tug of war with a thoroughly bound Strange. And it was as Maw struggled to hold on to Strange with his telepathy that Loki finally noticed it. Slivers of an ethereal purple crept along the burn scars on Maw's flesh, setting him alight from within as Maw called on more and more of his power to keep the spiderchild from slipping away with Strange. Understanding dawned as Loki realized the truth. Maw hadn't defeated the death curse after all. It was only due to Thanos's interference and the support of the Power Stone that the accursed telepath was still alive.

But now that Loki knew what to look for, he could see the knot of threads, purple and the eldritch grey in color that were everywhere under Maw's skin, trapping the green of Loki's elegant spellchain. It was a crude solution and as any sorcerer worth their magic would know, all it took to unravel those knots was a single tug. Loki only needed to identify the spot from where to pull underneath the mess of crude, knotty spellwork. Thanos may have the Power Stone and some rudimentary knowledge of seidr but it quite clear just why the Mad Titan seemed to favor technology over magic. Loki would have laughed out loud if he could have. Thanos's approach to magic was the same as Thor's. If nothing worked, they would rather overwhelm it with brute force. Loki wondered for a moment if Thor would be indignant over that comparison before he shrugged it off. What that oaf thought of the matter wasn't as important as dealing with Maw.

Loki turned his focus back to Maw and saw that he was almost at the transporter beam, Strange in tow with the spiderchild hanging on like a particularly resilient puppy. It was almost adorable how the child refused to let go, even when the beam started pulling the three up to the Q-ship. Stark flew by Loki in haste, speeding towards the ship as it started ascending. Maw and Strange had disappeared inside and the spiderchild was clinging to the outside of the hull. Stark put on an extra burst of speed to reach the ship before it got out of his range and that was when Loki decided it was time to lose his minder and join the other heroes up on that ship.

As fun as it had been, watching Strange getting beat up by Maw, Loki had no intention of letting the Black Order or Thanos get their hands on the Time Stone. A deadman's spell, Strange might have put on it, but there was a reason why Ebony Maw was considered Thanos's top general. There was no other sadist in the universe that could reach his levels and though the mortal sorcerer was stubborn, there was only so long that he could hold out against the torture. After all, resistance only made Maw enjoy the process of breaking his victims that much more. Loki could testify to that based on personal experience.

Deciding that it was time to lose his minder, Loki cast out an illusion of Banner, sending it running towards the streets, followed by a subtle misdirection spell at Wong. Loki himself slipped into the treecover and brought out the Tesseract to create a portal leading directly inside the Q-ship. He had a score to settle with that wrinkled pest.

_**A/N: Starting next chapter, we will wave goodbye to canon and head into full AU territory. Any guesses on how Loki intends to deal with Ebony Maw? And how the heroes will be reacting to Loki's presence on the Q-ship? I'm really looking forward to hearing your theories so don't hesitate to drop a review.**_


	6. The devil you know

Hidden from sight, Loki appeared in a secluded corridor of the Q-ship. Without the presence of mortal minds to act as a buffer between Loki's own mind and Maw's telepathy, Loki had to actively shield his presence. Strange's cries of pain rang in the bowels of the ship at regular intervals and Loki hazarded a guess that Maw had begun trying to break Strange already. Wondering at the number of opponents he might have to face while rescuing the second-rate sorcerer, Loki cast a detection spell, frowning when it returned with only four living signatures. Maw and Strange were directly below the section where Stark and his spider-child had taken shelter.

_Did Maw and Obsidian truly come to retrieve the Time Stone by themselves? _

Where were the foot soldiers? The Outriders? It didn't make sense for the ship to be devoid of life altogether. Unwilling to risk any hidden surprises, Loki targeted his next spell specifically at beings that might not fully register as organic. He was equal parts pleased and alarmed to discover an entire host of hibernating Chitauri, which while answering his question about foot soldiers, also raised the issue of Maw calling them to his aid were Loki to attack just then. As much as it pained him to admit, Loki needed to take care of the Chitauri before he could deal with Maw.

Before doing anything at all, however, he needed to shed Banner's disguise, seeing how there would be no logical explanation for the man's presence aboard Maw's ship and Stark would immediately grow suspicious. Then again, Loki couldn't just step out wearing his own face before the Midgardian heroes. He would be shot at and attacked before he could so much as open his mouth to speak. Loki's disguise needed to be inconspicuous without appearing weak or untrustworthy. The perfect cover presented itself when Loki recalled Midgardian heroes' predisposition towards helping the fairer sex. There were exceptions to the case though seeing a woman would at least give them pause long enough for Loki to spin things into his favor.

Course of action decided upon, Loki shed Banner's guise, donning a skin that he rarely used anymore. Summoning the form's battle armor, Lady Loki ran a hand through her shoulder length ringlets and glanced down at the gold and green ensemble. She frowned, deciding that the color scheme was ill-suited to her purposes. She briefly considered adopting Thor's colors though that idea was quickly discarded. The All-Mother's colors would work better and if it was in part as a tribute to the mother who had always seen the best in her, even when the world had turned its back on Loki, nobody would know.

Cloaking her presence, Loki moved through the ship until she came to the Chitauri hibernation chambers. Seeking the control panel, Loki made her way over and pressed her palm to the screen for activation. A quick look through the settings and Loki navigated her way to the master controls where she turned off the alarms and then disabled the hibernation pods' life support. Destroying Maw's backup proved to be ridiculously easy and in less than a minute, the entire hive was dead. Satisfied, Loki stepped away from the console and cast another detection spell, just to ensure that there wouldn't be any surprises when she went to deal with Maw.

The scans returned with only four signatures, the three mortals and Maw. When her targeted scans did not yield any different results Loki cloaked herself and teleported a few feet away from Stark and his spider-child. Strange's screams of agony were now loud enough for Loki to guess that Maw was utilizing those accursed scalpels. _He must be very desperate to retrieve the stone if he's brandishing the scalpels already. _

Loki listened as Stark and the child bickered while trying to come up with a plan to rescue Strange. The exchange only made half sense to Loki who had in fact not been able to watch 'that really old movie: Aliens' as the spider-child had put it. It had been one of Hawkeye's favorites but there was only so much culture Loki could cram while trying to plan a failed invasion. Nevertheless, she stood by Stark's side, cloaked from sight but seidr at the ready to defend the mortals as needed. The spider-child used his suit to cloak himself and Loki had to admit she was impressed by Stark's ingenuity. It was rare for a mortal to utilize technology in a way that came so close to replicating the effects of seidr without actually understanding the basics of it first. It was truly a shame they hadn't met under differing circumstances. Loki could have almost pictured having a pleasant acquaintanceship with the man.

She watched the spider-child carefully move across the ship, clinging upside down to the beams that sprawled across the hold as he drew closer to Maw and Strange. Loki frowned, wondering why Maw hadn't picked up on the telepathic broadcasting of the boy. It was loud enough for Loki to follow without having to think about it so then why did Maw, a superior telepath, not detect the child? Nothing in his body language suggested that he had noticed the mortal's presence. Maw was capable of multitasking so the fact that he was currently focused on torturing Strange should not have been enough of a reason to— there! Loki saw purple of the Power Stone flare across Maw's burnt skin and suddenly it made sense. The Power Stone's energy might be keeping Maw alive but at the same time it was interfering with his telepathy. No wonder Maw hadn't come running when Loki had killed off the Chitauri hoard. He had no idea his minions were dead.

"Oh, that has got to hurt," Stark declared loudly, coming to the edge of the platform and drawing Maw's attention to himself by posturing. "Tell me, did they teach you that technique at minion academy or did you come up with it while staring in a mirror?"

"These needles were originally intended for micro-surgery," Maw answered, slowly turning on his heel to face Stark. Behind him, Strange gave another cry of pain as three more needles pierced his flesh and dug into the sensitive nerve clusters. "In the right hands, they can save lives."

"I'm guessing yours aren't the right hands?" Stark snarked. "Because I don't see much life-saving going on around here."

"You have quite the mouth on you, worm." Maw narrowed his eyes.

"I know how to use it too, Squidward." Stark had the gall to wink at the most sadistic of Thanos's generals.

From the look of disgust that flashed across Maw's face, he seemed to understand the meaning behind Stark's words. If Loki hadn't been on the receiving end of Stark's particular brand of distraction before, she might have been just as thrown as Maw. As it was, she had to marvel at the bravery and foolishness of this particular mortal. Oh what fun could have been had flyting with this mortal had they met under differing circumstances.

"I could end his life with a single thought," Maw gestured and all the needles currently not impaling Strange lifted in the air, "I could do the same to you."

That was all the warning they had before the needles were shooting through the air, headed straight for Stark. The man of iron made an aborted gesture to move out of the way though he froze in surprise when the needles shattered against Loki's hastily conjured shield and fell to the ground in a shimmering rain.

"Was that supposed to happen? Because let me tell you, I am not impressed, Freddy." Stark maintained a façade of bravery though Loki had been close enough to hear the hitch in his breath. Still looking at him now, standing relaxed and seemingly without a care in the world, it would have been difficult to tell that the bravado was false.

Maw ignored Stark, his eyes narrowing as the purple flared across his burnt flesh. A moment later, Loki felt the necrotic threads of Maw's telepathy cast out, searching for whoever had defended Stark and she allowed a little of her mental shielding to slip, just enough for Maw to notice to her presence but not enough to identify her beyond her species. Maw's nostrils flared, the only sign of irritation that he seemed to allow himself to display as he hissed. "I know you're there, Asgardian. Show yourself and I might show you some mercy. Stay hidden and you will beg for death's sweet relief."

Loki traced the spider-child's careful descent down the beams towards Strange and decided on her next action. Letting the invisibility drop, she smirked at the hateful creature. "Here I am."

"Whoa! Where the hell did _you_ come from?" Stark nearly jumped and Loki felt her smirk widen.

"Why, Stark, I'm wounded you didn't notice me by your side all this time." She pressed a hand to her bosom in mock affront.

"I tire of your inane chatter. Die." Maw said as a beam twisted and broke apart, turning into a pair of jagged spears that shot towards Loki and Stark.

"Look out!" Loki pushed Stark out of the way of an imminent beheading. The spears flew through where Loki and Stark had been moments before, turning in midair as they came back towards the pair. Starks gauntlets whined as they powered up and shot bolts of energy at the spears, redirecting their trajectory. Not to be outdone, Loki summoned Chaosmaker and used the spear to parry the next attacks.

"Enough of this!" Maw snarled, wrenching four micro-needles from Strange's torso, sending them at Loki and Stark. As though sensing Loki's need, the spear transformed into a pair of curved swords, letting her use both hands to parry the jagged spears Maw shot at them in addition to the micro-needles.

They fought for a while, Maw tearing up the platform around them with each attack, twisting the additional debris into more weapons to attack Loki and Stark with. Although Loki was used to fighting back to back with someone else, normally that someone was either Thor or one of the idiots three or Sif. Stark fought like none of them and it took Loki a while to get the hang of letting the other man fend for himself and maybe even watch Loki's back. She cast a powerful shielding spell around them both just in case though.

"Give up." Maw declared as he lifted off the ground, bringing some kind of automated weapons to bear down on them in addition to everything else. Loki lobbed several fireballs at them for Maw's trouble, the heat from her spells turning them to molten slag. With a wordless growl, the purple glow beneath his skin intensified, his clenched fists lighting up with the power as tiny flakes of skin began to burn off of him. "Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine. I have the might of an Infinity Stone behind me."

"Yeah, but we have the power of movies behind us!" Unintimidated, Stark's tone was insolent as he shot open a hole into the hull of the ship. The force of the explosion and the sudden rush of air escaping the ship sucked Maw along with it and for a moment it seemed as though they had won. And then one of the broken beams shot out and grabbed hold of Maw's arm, slowly pulling him back inside.

"Mr. Stark!" The spider-child cried and Loki turned to see that he and Strange were also caught in the flow of the rushing air. Though the boy had had the presence of mind to use his webs to anchor them to the wall and the roof farthest from the hole while clutching to the limp wizard with his other hand, she could see them slipping down the length of the web, flying in the middle of the hangar as they were.

"Grab your friends," Loki ordered Stark. "I'll deal with Maw." Without waiting for a response, she jumped off the platform, using seidr to keep her feet glued to the floor as she made her way over to where the wretched creature was trying to find his footing once more. The purple of the Power Stone was flashing beneath his flesh, sparks of energy crackling around his arms as Maw grasped at the beam keeping him tethered to the ship. Loki smiled as she advanced, like a panther stalking its prey.

"I am going to enjoy ending your life," she purred, projecting her words into Maw's mind. "Did you like the little present I gave you on the Statesman?"

Recognition flared in Maw's eyes, his lips pulling back in a snarl. "Liesmith!"

"How nice of you to remember me," Loki grinned wider, baring her teeth as she crossed the blades of Chaosmaker across Maw's throat. Pulling on the threads of chaos winding throughout the ship, Loki sent the energy racing through the blades. Aided by seidr, the uru had no trouble slicing clean through Maw's flesh regardless of the Power Stone's energy coursing through his veins. The decapitated head flew out the hole, leaving Maw's headless body jerking in the rushing air like a ragdoll, tangled in the beams as it was. At least until Loki disintegrated the metal with a burst of seidr and let the vacuum of space claim it. "Rot in Hel."

Loki debated if she ought to close up the hole but Stark beat her to it as he flew through the air and fired some kind of white gunk that solidified across the opening and sealed the ship once more. Plastering on a friendly smile, Loki turned to face the Midgardians, finding it interesting how the sentient cloak was supporting the second-rate sorcerer in his bid to stay on his feet while the spider-child hovered uncertainly in the background. Stark let the helmet of his suit fold away as he watched Loki with narrowed eyes.

"You got a name, Morgana?" Loki did not miss the fact that Stark had yet to power down his repulsors.

"You may call me Loptr," she answered, realizing her mistake the moment the name was past her lips. Stark's expression grew pinched as he pursed his lips together and the whine of his repulsors filled the air. The spider-child let out an uncertain "Mr. Stark?" while Loki tightened her grip on the sword hilts. Leave it to Stark to know and recognize an obscure name that Loki hadn't used or claimed in centuries. Still, not letting the nervousness show on her face, Loki quirked a brow as she spoke, "Is this the thanks I get for saving all of your lives?"

"Saving our lives? Or saving your own, Loki?" Stark pointed his gauntlets at Loki's face. Behind Stark, the spider-child let out a yelp of surprise, followed by a loudly whispered, "Mr. Loki is a Miss Loki now?" The second-rate magician finally joined in on the Midgardian idiocy and summoned his mandalas.

Loki rolled her eyes. "Really now, Stark. If I wanted you dead, you three would have been dead already."

"You do realize this is not convincing us to trust you, right? Also, what's with the genderbender?"

"I know, but that isn't going to change regardless of what I say," Loki shrugged, ignoring his second question in favor of casting a discreet spell to disable weapons of an electrical nature in her immediate vicinity. She cast a powerful shielding charm next, to keep Strange at bay just as Stark's and the boy's suits shut down. "Perhaps now we can speak like civilized beings."

"Really?" Stark sputtered in indignation before turning to Strange. "Wizard, you want to take care of our Wicked Witch of the West?"

"As much as I'm sure he would love to throw me into an eternally falling portal," Loki answered for the wizard in question, "he knows conjuring said portal would rip this ship apart and I doubt any of you would prefer that outcome to spending a few minutes talking with me."

"Oh yeah? Well I'm pretty sure our Houdini can deal with you without conjuring a portal." Stark shot back as he crossed his arms, discreetly moving to stand between Loki and the spider-child.

"Hmmm, I suppose," Loki pretended to think for a moment before shooting the second-rate sorcerer a nasty smile. "Although, I do have to wonder, what is he waiting for?"

Strange made a valiant effort to appear less worn out but Loki was intimately familiar with the aftermath of a session with Maw's favorite micro-needles. Needless to say, Strange wasn't in any state to be casting spells, let alone even properly stand on his feet unaided. As it was, Loki suspected the man was on his feet solely due to the cloak around his shoulders.

"Now then, if we're done with all the posturing, I would like for us to get down to business, as you Midgardians are so fond of saying," Loki said as she dismissed Chaosmaker, internally smirking at the awed gasp that came from the boy at her display. She felt even more pleased when Stark shot his child an annoyed glare to which the child responded with a "Sorry, Mr. Stark, but her magic is kind of cool."

Loki sauntered over to the control panels and leaned against it. "First off, I feel that I must congratulate you three on taking out Ebony Maw. Out of every single child that Thanos took under his wing, Maw was one of his most fanatic generals and had decimated the highest number of planets and solar systems in the Mad Titan's name. I did not think you had it in you but credit where credit is due. Despite your countless flaws, you humans come up with the most amusing solutions to your problems."

"So glad we could entertain you," Strange drawled, though the effect of nonchalance was ruined by his shaking hands. Noting Loki's gaze, Strange scowled and grasped the edges of his cloak to stop the subconscious movement. Loki briefly wondered if the numerous scars on the sorcerer's hands had anything to do with the reason for the tremors before dismissing the thought entirely.

"Now that you three have managed to keep the Time Stone out of the Mad Titan's hands, perhaps you would like to return to your planet," Loki said, pretending not to have heard Strange. "I can use the Tesseract to track down the creature possessing the Mind Stone and open a portal leading you directly to it. You could step through and be home in a heartbeat."

"What about you? You going to come with or...?" Stark trailed off, quirking a brow as he eyed Loki from head to toe.

Giving a lazy shrug in return, she tossed her hair over a shoulder, the epitome of nonchalance. "I am going to track down and steal the Soul Stone."

"Planning on taking over the universe in your old master's stead, Morgana?"

"I've never been interested in ruling the universe, Stark."

"I seem to remember you singing a different tune the last time we met. Giant portal right above my tower and uglier cousins of the borgs flying through ring any bells?"

"I gave ruling a shot, "Loki answered, letting the silence hang until Stark prompted with an impatient 'and?' before continuing, "I've decided it's not for me. Thor is welcome to keep that thankless job."

"You can forgive me for not taking you at your word," Strange drawled.

"Yeah, we're not letting you gallivant off on your own," Stark added.

"Very well," Loki said, pushing away from the console, "I had thought rallying your forces in defense of your realm and warning the populace about Thanos would take precedence but you're all welcome to join me on the perilous journey to track the only unaccounted-for Infinity stone, if you wish."

"Mr. Stark, she does have a point. Shouldn't someone warn the earth?"

"Maybe she does," Stark turned to the spider-child, "but are you really going to step through a portal created by _Loki?"_

"If I wanted you dead, I would only have had to have waited a few more minutes for Ebony Maw to finish off the three of you before I dealt with him. Saving your lives only to kill you later is a waste of my valuable time and seidr."

"I hate to say it but she does have a good point." It was surprising to have Strange be the one who defended Loki. She glanced at the sorcerer but his face gave nothing away. "And we need to warn Earth of the impending threat."

"Houdini, you've got a stone of your own. Can't _you _track Vision and portal us to his location?"

"I'm afraid the sling ring lacks interplanetary range. And as Loki pointed out earlier, creating a portal on a moving spaceship will rip it apart long before any of us could step through."

"Think of it this way, Stark. You are all enemies of Thanos and he is my enemy, so going by that saying of your realm, 'enemy of my enemy', even if you don't trust in anything else, just believe that so long as Thanos is our common enemy, you have nothing to fear from me."

Stark pinched his nose in defeat before turning to Loki. "Fine, create a portal to Vision and Peter goes through to warn everyone."

The spider-child yelped in indignation and burst out. "You can't send me back! What if you need me later on?"

"Kid, remember your aunt hottie-hot-hottie? She nearly cut my balls off when she found out that I had taken you to Germany without permission. If she finds out I took you on a space road trip without informing her, you better believe she will skin me alive. And then she'll go after the family jewels."

"But, Mr. Stark—"

"Nu-uh, I am not listening to your arguments. I like my jewels right where they are, thank you very much. Not to mention, I seem to remember telling you to stay on earth, but you disobeyed my orders and still came along to rescue the wizard. Well, mission accomplished. Now, it's time for you to go home. Houdini and I can keep watch on Reindeer Games."

"Actually, Stark, I need to return as well," Strange said. "As the Sorcerer Supreme I can't leave the planet for extended periods of time without putting proper precautions in place."

The boy opened his mouth to argue but snapped it shut as Stark held up a finger and scowled at him. "No, that doesn't mean you get to stay. You need to go back and let May know you're alright. Especially considering you probably haven't picked up her calls since Leatherface showed up. I can handle Morgana myself."

Loki sorely wanted to disabuse Stark of that notion but decided to hold her tongue in favor of getting rid of them faster. Maybe the child might yet convince Stark to leave with him instead of straggling along with Loki.

"Maybe we can all go to Earth," the boy suggested hopefully as he looked between Stark and Strange. "I can let May know that I'm okay. We warn the others about Thanos, and then help Miss Loki with her search for the Soul Stone."

"I suspect that by now Thor ought to have retrieved the Reality Stone from the Collector, and so he will most likely be headed to Earth through alternate means," Loki interjected before the others could respond. "I intend not to be on the same planet as him for a while."

"Why? Did you stab him the back again?"

Loki bristled at Stark's insolence and it was an effort to remind herself not to stab the mouthy mortal because the annoying twat would be useful in future confrontations with Thanos.

"Think whatever you may wish, Stark. If you three do not reach a decision soon, I might just leave you stranded on this ship. Have fun trying to navigate this ship back to your backwater planet on your own."

"Pfft, I'm a genius, give me a couple of hours and I might just do that."

"So you can read dead alien languages and communicate with a telepathic interface?" Loki quirked a brow.

"Never mind that." Strange took a step forward when Stark looked ready to argue. "Spiderman and I will take you up on that offer for a portal, Loki. Stark is welcome to the attempts if he so wishes."

"I think I'll tag along with Lokes. See what the universe has to offer."

"Mr. Stark, I really think I can—"

"Kid, no means no, alright?" Stark snapped and the boy took a step back, crestfallen.

"O-Oh… I'm sorry. I'll just stop bothering you…"

Stark let out a harsh sigh, seeming to realize the effect his words had had on the child. He walked up to the boy and pulled him out of hearing range. Loki did not think it was prudent to mention that her enhanced hearing could still pick up on their whispered conversation when Stark began to speak. "Peter, look… I'm sorry, but I don't want to put you in harm's way. I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself if I take you along and something happens to you. I know I offered to make you an official Avenger and I also know that you can handle yourself pretty well in a crisis, but if you get hurt… Can't you see that that's going to be on me? I'm the adult here and I need to make sure you're safe. Well… safer than you will be gallivanting across the universe in search of magical stones, which is why you will be going back to Earth. Rendezvous with Dr. Banner and Thor and help them rally our planet's defenses. Think you can handle that responsibility?"

The boy looked hesitant for a moment, almost looking like he was going to argue though in the end he relented with a defeated nod. "You can count on me, Mr. Stark."

"That's a good Underoo." Stark clapped the boy on his back before turning back to face Loki and Strange. "Alrighty then, I guess we have everything hashed out. Oh no. Wait." He spun on his heel to face the spider-child, holding out a hand onto which his suit spat out a clunky cellular device. Loki frowned at that for a moment before recalling that it was the device that Captain America had sent to Stark at the end of their 'civil war'. "Here, this might be more useful to you than to me."

"Okay?" the boy looked confused as he accepted the device. "Umm… Mr. Stark, why are you giving me a flip phone?"

"Take a look at the contacts list later, alright?" Stark answered before he wandered over to Loki and Strange.

"If everything is settled?" Strange gestured between Stark and the spider-child and Stark scowled at the sorcerer.

"You have a problem with me being a responsible mentor?"

"Did I say that?" without waiting for Stark's response, the sorcerer turned to Loki. "Will this location do for the portal, or do you need to be somewhere specific?"

Loki gave the man an icy smile before summoning the Tesseract. Staring at the glowing cube in her hand, she dipped into the power contained within, deeper than she ever had before. It began as a soundless hum, rising to a crescendo until the Space Stone's wordless song was ringing inside her head, like a siren's call pulling her towards it, wanting to drown her in its infinite wonder. Loki followed its call part of the way, letting the energy surround her core and lend it strength far beyond what she was naturally gifted with and then cast a detection spell targeted to the creature possessing the mind stone. The energy flared in her palms, burning and freezing at the same time, as though she were trying to cup molten metal in bare hands. She followed the invisible thread leading her back to Midgard, and then to where she could sense the Mind Stone. Location in mind, Loki created a portal and gestured for the two Midgardians to step through.

The call of the Space Stone grew to near deafening levels even inside her head. Loki found herself sinking, slowly surrendering to the endless power until she splintered into infinity itself. She was in the asteroid field that was all that remained of Asgard and the obliterated capital of the Nova Empire. She was in Saraab, Alfheim, Nidavellir, Jotunheim. She was in every Ravager ship congregating at the call of Stakar and Aleta Ogord, to the lone ship landing on Knowhere outside the Collector's museum.

She was everywhere. From distant galaxies and blackholes to backwater planets and some of the most advanced civilizations that existed. She was in the Q-ship headed to Titan, watching Stark observe the husk that was her physical self and she was in Midgard, watching the Sorcerer and the spider-child duck for cover as an energy blast blew up a street.

Moments later, the child stood up to join the fight taking place above the rooftops of the sleepy Midgardian town when the sorcerer grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Mr. Strange, Vision is in trouble," the spider-child cried before the two were forced to duck a second time.

"I know, which is why you need to go back through the portal and get Loki and Stark. We'll need their help."

Looking around, she spotted the little red witch and the construct possessing the Mind Stone fend off another attack from Proxima Midnight.

_Proxima Midnight?_

Loki frowned and she felt and saw the husk that was her physical body follow the motions.

"Hello? Lokes? You in there?" Stark poked her in the shoulder. He appeared to have been doing so for quite a while.

In Knowhere, a motley crew cautiously approached the museum. Inside, Thor and Banner followed the Collector through a labyrinth of curios. Outside, the Sanctuary drew ever closer.

On Midgard, the spider-child split from the Sorcerer and wove his way through the rubble already littering the streets to where the portal was. With an effort of will, Loki pulled away from Asgard, then from Xandar, followed by Saraab, Alfheim, Nidavellir and Jotunheim. She withdrew from Midgard and then from every Ravager ship. She withdrew from every splinter of infinity until all that was left was split between Knowhere, standing next to Thor as he discussed the threat that was Thanos with the Collector and with Stark as he tried to get Loki to respond as her husk stood, surrounded in a glowing vortex of blue. A part of her wished to remain with her brother but Loki pulled away, flying back through the stars until she slammed back into her body. The next moment, she brought up the strongest mental shields that she could conjure and blocked out the Space Stone's call.

She only had a moment to revel in the blessed silence inside her head before the spider-child was stumbling through the portal, gasping for breath.

"Mr. Stark!" The boy cried, eyes wide and face covered in soot, "Aliens are— attacking earth. We need help! Vision is hurt. Strange sent me to get you two."

"Did you know about this?" Stark growled as he turned on Loki.

"Does it _look_ like I knew about this?" She hissed in turn, summoning Chaosmaker to one hand before she stomped over to the portal. "Let's go save your construct."

When Stark remained rooted to the spot, "Oh for Norn's sake, Stark. I don't want you or your allies dead but if you remain acting so suspicious of me, I might just stab you anyway. Now are you coming through or not? The Black Order won't wait around for you forever."

Without waiting for a response, Loki went through. Moments later, Stark and the spider-child arrived and Loki finally sent the Tesseract away.


	7. Going Under

They crouched behind an upturned car where Strange had taken refuge. Loki took stock of the situation they had arrived in though there was no sign of the Black Order in their immediate vicinity even if all the buildings bore marks of their presence. Next to her, she could hear Stark's AI murmur updates about the fight that was moving all over the Midgardian city. Loki patiently waited for Stark to be done, knowing it would be better to show her trustworthiness to the mortals by staying put and waiting for their instructions however much it galled her to do so. And so, Loki accepted the tiny communication device that Stark handed out once he was done with his AI's report. Ignoring the unpleasant feeling of cold metal in her ear canal, Loki put it in.

"All right, so here's the plan," Stark said as he stood up, "Peter and I will go help Witchy and Vision while Houdini and Morgana work on getting the civilians to safety."

"Wouldn't it be better if I helped rescue your construct?"

"Two things, Wicked Witch," Stark shot back "you and Strange can create portals, which will be super useful for evacuation."

"And the second?"

"I trust Underoos a hundred percent more than I'd trust you to watch my back."

Loki bit back her instinctively scathing reply and settled instead for a cold and dignified, "I see."

Turning on her heel, she marched away. It had been naive of her to assume that the mortals would trust her after she saved their lives. Of course they wouldn't. Unconditional trust was afforded only to Thor[WU1] , Asgard's golden child, the worthy son of Odin, beloved by all who met him. Loki was the Liesmith, Odin's mistake, never to be trusted. No matter, she had nothing to prove to these insignificant mayflies. Thor could keep them for all she cared.

_Only a fool would trust you to watch their backs,_ Sif spat inside her head.

_Wonder what that says about your beloved Thor, _Loki shot back at her.

_Sooner or later, _you_ will be the one to shove a knife in his back. _Sif hissed and Loki grit her teeth.

"Shut up."

_You're a sickness that eats away at everything it touches, Liesmith!_

"I told you to shut up!"

"Is everything okay, Lokes?" Stark's tinny voice crackled in her ear.

"Focus on your construct and leave me to the evacuation."

"Try not to burn anything while you're at it, Morgana."

Burn? Wha— Loki looked down, surprised to find a fireball glowing in the palm of her hand. Mortification had her ears heating at her loss of control and Loki clenched her fist to dissipate the spell. Calling on her seidr with purpose, she shaped it into a detection spell, reaching for the otherworldy song inside her head that was the Tesseract and drew on a fraction of its power. Melding it with her spell, she let the seidr flow outwards, latching on to every mortal soul inhabiting the buildings around her in a fifty foot radius[WU2] . With a simple twist, every target of her spell was portalled out to an empty plain well beyond the city's limits. [WU3]

"Mr. Stark, remember that ancient flip phone you gave me on the alien ship?" The spider-child's voice crackled over their communication line as Loki turned and moved down the street and readied her seidr for another spell.

"What about it, kid?" Stark sounded distracted as Loki repeated her earlier motions and cleared the buildings in a fifty foot radius of its inhabitants.

"I just got a call from Captain America. He's says he's—"

"Ignore him." Stark cut-in without any hesitation.

"No, you don't understand, Mr. Stark. He says he and the Widow are already here. They're asking where you want them to be."

"Far away from me." Deadened silence followed Stark's declaration on their communication line, broken only when Strange cleared his throat and offered a suggestion.

"Peter, have them help with the evacuation. They can help me clear out these residential apartments." Loki frowned at the exhaustion that in the wizard's voice and wondered if perhaps the mortal had been more injured than Loki's estimates. The other-dimensional energy that these sorcerers drew on should have rejuvenated the so-called Sorcerer Supreme by now. But from the sounds of it, it seemed as if he could barely stand, let alone cast complex magics.

"Fine, kid, get the phone to Houdini," Stark said as Loki cast her spell for a third time, "he can coordinate the extra help. I'm busy fighting off these two ugly ass aliens and— Shit! Vision just took a hit. I have to go."

Red lit up the sky somewhere to Loki's west and the air crackled with an ominous static of magical buildup. Loki turned to face that direction, momentarily debating the pros and cons of abandoning her given mission to intervene in the fight. It was obvious that Stark had bitten off more than he could chew, even with that untrained Witch by his side. After all, the Black Order had all been personally trained by Thanos. Their defeat of Maw could be chalked up to sheer dumb luck, if Loki was being honest. Hoping for another miracle so soon after that first one… Loki shook her head. She almost took a step in the direction she assumed the fight to be taking place but something held her back.

_Go on. Go over there. Save them… and see how fast they turn on you. _Hela crooned in her ear. _Do you think they will become your friends if you step in to save their pathetic lives?_

_I don't need them to be my friends in order for them to play their parts. _Loki hissed back at her sister before resolutely turning in the other direction and stalking off. She stopped before her next targets and furiously tamped down on the urge to stab something, focusing instead on casting the stupid spell, working on the thankless grunt level task of evacuating civilians. Even if everything else had been a lie in her life, there had been one truth that remained constant for her and those around her. Loki was never to be trusted. No matter where she went, who she met or tried to befriend, there always came a time when she was spurned and turned away, sometimes with weak excuses and others with outright slander. Each time, her revenge had been swift and without mercy, but in the long run, it had only ever cemented that hateful truth. Loki Odinson was not to be trusted. Ever. And now, even in this backwater realm where no one truly knew her, that accursed truth remained.

The buildup of magical static culminated in crimson sparks shooting off of glass and metal alike and Loki only had enough time to cast a wide area shield before the Witch's magic discharged in a powerful blast of crimson. Far off in the distance, buildings that Loki had only just vacated crumbled to the ground with deafening booms.

"Mr. St-Stark?" the spider-child's voice crackled over their communications line.

"I'm okay kid, where are you?"

"I'm fine. Are Vision and Miss Wanda alright?"

"Yeah, they're fine. I think Witchy might have just plastered the Big Ugly[WU4] —nope, nevermind, he's getting back up. Damn, these guys are resilient."

"As I told you earlier, the Black Order is not to be taken lightly, Stark," Loki couldn't help but say.

"Yeah, yeah, save the 'I told you so's for later, Morgana. How are we on the evacuation front?"

"Things are proceeding." Loki answered curtly before returning to her task. Strange murmured something on the line but Loki tuned him out as instinct honed from centuries spent mis-adventuring with Thor and his idiots four made Loki glance upwards. The Q-ships that had previously been hovering somewhere in the upper atmosphere of Midgard were accelerating towards the ground.

"—to shit, Loki, can you do something about that?"

"What do you expect me to do about falling spaceships?" Loki hissed back, gleaning the gist of Stark's demand from the bit she had heard.

"I don't _know! _Something_? _If those things hit the ground, they will take out the entire city and probably the ones around this place too."

Loki scanned her surroundings once to ensure that the Black Order wasn't near her position before calling upon the Tesseract. Grabbing it in both hand, Loki drew on its infinite power, the siren's song once again rising in crescendo inside her head as she directed its power to the skies above Midgard. Picturing the endless nothing of the Void, Loki created a portal big enough to swallow the falling ships. The first of the two went through without any trouble but the second swerved out of the portal's path at the last possible second. It should not have been possible for an object that size to move in such a manner but somehow, the vessel's pilot had managed the impossible.

Loki cursed, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to create another portal in time. Clenching her teeth, she tried raising back her mental shields to block out the Space Stone's song, only for the infinite blue to latch on to her shields and claw them open. Tendrils of its power sank into her psyche, burning and freezing and agonizing beyond words. Loki wanted to collapse to the ground in a limbless heap but the power of the stone had such a tight hold on her that she could barely breathe. Spots of darkness danced across her eyes as the Space Stone strengthened its hold on her. A scream was trapped in her throat as the blue enveloped her between a heartbeat and the next. Between one breath and the next, she was transported across the city to where Strange was slumped across a bench, that gaudy necklace open across his chest to reveal the Time Stone within it. Its green power washed across the wizard, reaching out to Loki with shimmering tendrils.

Another song, different in cadence melded with the one already ringing inside Loki's head and a voice Loki had given up hope of ever hearing again spoke out across the barrier of time and space.

"_Loki. Oh, my sweet, sweet child."_

Loki almost sobbed at the ghost of a familiar caress that brushed the side of her face. The songs rose in crescendo, the two infinity stones pulsing in sync, glowing brighter and brighter as the heat and the cold assaulting Loki's senses expanded beyond words. Loki cycled forwards in time, thrown across the universe. She paused briefly, just long enough to catch a glimpse of strange, multi-legged eldritch horrors devouring a star before the stones' power pulsed and she was jerked in a different direction. Tiny, mouse-like creatures scurried across a sunless world, glowing in an array of colors as they scavenged for food on a dying world. Another pulse and she was floating in the Void.

Pulse.

She saw the birth of a civilization.

Pulse.

A binary star system collapsed into a singular star.

Pulse.

Pulse.

Pulse.

Time shifted directions and she was jerked backwards.

Past the binary stars, past the dying civilization that she had witnessed being born moments before past the bilgesnipe-sized glowing mammoths that roamed a land with a dying red dwarf. Back and back, pulse after pulse, she was pulled almost to before the beginning of the universe itself. But before she could look at what horrors had inhabited reality before the universe existed, she was jerked for a final time.

Loki blinked, gasping in the warm sunlight as birds chirped brightly around her. Her heart clenched painfully in her chest at the sight before here. There, kneeling in the grass before her favorite flowering plant of Vanarian Spring Blossoms was—

_Mother…_

Realizing that she wasn't alone, Frigga paused in her motions of tending to the plant before she resumed.

"Will you remain skulking in the shadows, daughter?" Loki nearly took a step towards her mother before realizing that it wasn't her that Frigga was addressing. Stepping out from behind the shade of an Alfir Birch was Hela. Dressed casually in a flowing dress of green and black, her long hair pulled back in intricate braid, Loki's adoptive sister smiled at Frigga.

"You appeared so at peace, Step-mother, I did not wish to interrupt."

"You know you may address me as 'Mother' if you wish, Hela," Frigga said, brushing dirt of the front of her dress as she stood and turned to face the goddess of Death.

Hela's answer was swallowed by another pulse as Loki was jerked away and into the castle proper. It was night and the sound of battle echoed in the streets of Asgard. Loki frowned, unable to recall a time in her entire lifetime when there had been a battle in the golden realm— apart from that assault by the Dark Elves during the convergence but that had been during the day. This was—

"Mother!" Loki whirled around at the sound of Hela's voice, her heart stuttering at the familiar sight of her eldest sibling. This was the Hela Loki remembered, the one that haunted not only her dreams but also her waking moments. Horned helmet, billowing cape and that black and poison green armor, necro-swords in both hands as she advanced towards Frigga. There was blood splattered across her face but Loki could tell that none of it was her own. "Mother, you must speak with Father. He went to consult with Mimir and now he has gotten it in his head that I'm—"

"Princess! You must surrender," Heimdall's voice boomed across the hallway, his golden eyes pausing briefly at the spot where Loki stood, invisible to everyone else, "Please, step away from the queen."

"Gatekeeper, return to your post, lest Father decide that you have turned treasonous too," Hela snapped before purposefully turning her back on Heimdall as she stalked towards Frigga. "Mother, please, speak with Odin. Assure him that I am still loyal to Asgard. This is my home and you are my family. I would never—

"The All-Father does not wish for you to be in this wing of the palace," Heimdall cut in and Loki saw a familiar spark of irritation in Hela's eyes.

Without looking back, she threw a conjured sword at the gatekeeper, "Stay out of this." Hela snapped. "I do not wish my brothers [WU5] or mother any harm."

Another pulse and Loki was wrenched away from the confusing scene. Time sped up as days then months and finally years went by until Loki was standing in Frigga's personal chambers, her mother working at the loom on an elaborate tapestry. She paused between working on the threads to look up and smile.

"Loki," she opened her arms wide as she stood and walked over to where Loki was. Not the Loki of the past, but present Loki herself, the wretched soul lost across time and space at the mercy of two infinity stones. "Oh my sweet, sweet child."

Frigga embraced her and Loki collapsed within her strong arms, breathing in the familiar scent of her mother's favorite perfume, uncaring of how she came to be there.

"Mother… I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Loki gripped on to her mother's slender frame, her face pressed into the All-Mother's shoulders as she sobbed.

Home… she was home.

_**A/N: By the way, if anyone wants to see how I pictured Lady Loki's appearance in chapter 6, I've finally finished the artwork for it. I've put it up on my Deviantart and my Tumblr accounts since I can't upload the pics here on fanfiction itself. If you guys are interested in checking them out, look up Nimmxx on dA or countesskittymeow on Tumblr. As always, please leave a comment with your thoughts on the chapter. **_

_**P.S. feel free to follow and/or message me on Tumblr if you guys want to ;)**_


	8. Nightmares of the Futures Past

_**A/N: Lady Loki speaks with Frigga and learns a few unexpected truths**_

Loki didn't know how long she clung to her mother, begging for her forgiveness over and over again. Though it had only been five years since the Convergence and the Dark Elf attack that had claimed the life of her mother, to Loki it felt as though it had been centuries. And the time spent apart had done nothing to lessen the sense of loss, the absolute finality of it all. She knew she wasn't destined for Valhalla, being the monster that she was, there would be no Valkyries coming to escort her spirit to the eternal mead halls where her mother's soul dwelled.

She did not know why the stones had deigned to bring her there, if it even had been the stones and not her own subconscious desire to see her mother one last time before she died… maybe it was all just a cruel joke, another accursed conjuration of her broken mind, but even if it was just that, Loki wanted to stay in that moment forever. Closing her eyes, Loki breathed in the scent of her mother, drawing strength from her warm, _solid _presence. Frigga carded her fingers through Loki's hair just how she used to when Loki had been a child.

"I'm the one who should ask for forgiveness, my love," Frigga said after an eternity had passed.

Eyes snapping open, Loki pulled away to look at her, really look at her. Her mother looked so young. Still as graceful as Loki remembered her to be but without any signs of aging.

_How far in the past have the stones brought me?_

Loki looked around for something to clue her in to the exact timeline. Frigga easily guessed what was on Loki's mind. "You and your brother have started going down to the training rings just this past week."

In other words, quite a bit.

Swallowing the lump that had lodged itself in her throat, Loki asked in a hoarse whisper. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"A mother's love can be the most selfish thing in the world," Frigga said by the way of answer as she gently led Loki to the balcony and made her sit. "And I have to apologize for all that you have suffered through because of it. And all that you will suffer through still."

"Some would say I brought all that suffering down upon myself."

"They would be wrong." Frigga's response was so fierce, even Loki herself was taken aback. "There was nothing you could have done and everything that I could have. That I _should _have…" mother cupped Loki's face in her hands and Loki melted into her touch. "Your life could have been very different had I chosen differently. You could have been made aware of the truth of your heritage and the fact that your father and I loved you still, with all our hearts. We _chose _to have you as our child."

Something cracked within Loki's chest, her voice coming out just as broken. "Why didn't you then?"

"A volva is said to be blessed by Norns, but if you ask me, this gift is just as much of a curse. Knowledge of the future can bring about an unprecedented advantage, that is one of the reasons Odin had asked for my hand in marriage, you know. But… knowing what the future holds also places a heavy burden upon you. Do you choose the path where the ones you love live happy but tragically short lives? Or do you choose the one where they suffer but live to an old age? Every path I ever divined for your future where I chose to tell you the truth or convinced Odin to do so, you never even lived to see the day of your majority." Tears welled in Frigga's eyes and Loki's insides twisted at the sight of those tears. This was wrong. Mother never cried. She was… mother…

"A mother's love is selfish," Frigga said as she cast a spell and the doors leading back to her chambers shifted to show an entirely different room. It was an enormous hall, carved out of a polished stone as dark as the Void itself. Elaborately carved pillars of stone grew from the floor holding up the pale roof that was inlaid with golden frescos depicting scenes from a hundreds and thousands of worlds and hundreds and thousands of lifetimes. Loki tried catching sight of something familiar before realizing just what it was that Frigga had opened up to her.

"The Weaver's Hall," Loki gasped, turning to face her mother, wide-eyed. "Y-You… Why are you showing me this?"

"Because of what I am about to tell you…" Frigga stood up, holding out a hand for Loki to take, "I want to show you something in here before I can explain any further."

"But…" Loki hesitated at the threshold when Frigga tried leading her inside. "Mother, none but the weavers chosen by the Norns themselves may set foot inside."

"Exceptions can and have been made in the past," Frigga assured her, gently tugging her inside, "and I feel this qualifies as one such time."

Loki felt her breath catch at the ambient magic inside the Weaver's Hall. Every step that they took on the floor sent bolts of pure white lightning shooting through the stone in all directions, resonating and flowing through the pillars to reach the frescoes high above their heads. Loki turned her head to see the murals shift, now depicting images from Loki's and Frigga's lives. Directly above their heads were images from their immediate past and present but spreading outwards and moving along with them were images that could have been from their pasts or futures. Could have beens, would have beens and never beens all mixed above them, flowing from one to the next so seamlessly Loki couldn't tell which of them was part of their reality and which wasn't.

"It's best not to look at them," Frigga said, leading Loki through a maze of pillars until stopped in front of one that, although visually no different than the others, emanated a warmth that Loki hadn't realized had been missing until then. "Place your hand next to mine."

Loki did as Frigga instructed, placing her palm against the stone, marveling at how similar their hands appeared. Had she subconsciously modelled some of her features based on her mother? Before Loki could reach a decision the strangest thing happened. Loki was intimately familiar with nearly all means of magical travel from teleportation, to portalling, to slipping into the secret paths of the world tree and moving between the realms, but never had she ever experienced the world itself move around her while she remained rooted to the spot. Loki knew it in her bones that she was still standing in the same place but the pillar seemed to grow around them and swallow them inside, bringing them to a room completely identical to the one they had just been standing in at first glance.

But it was as Frigga pulled away and led her past more pillars that Loki noticed a key difference. There were wooden shelves growing out of the stone pillars, adorned with hundreds of tapestries, stretching away from Loki in endless rows. Colorful scenes of Asgard's history were woven into each and every one of them, some featuring minor instances of things Loki could vaguely recall happening and some Loki was entirely certain had never happened at all.

"These tapestries hold within them, not only visions of futures that have already come to pass, but also futures that could have been," Frigga said as they moved past impersonal tapestries and towards shelves that depicted more personal histories and futures. Loki spied a tapestry where Odin had slain Laufey on Jotunheim during the war and another where Odin had lost not just his eye but also an arm. Another where instead of picking Loki up in his arms, he had left the little Jotun baby to suffer from the elements, taking with him only the Casket of Ancient Winters. Loki stared at Odin's back before shaking her head and moving on with Frigga. "While I cannot completely avoid what my visions bring forth in my weavings, I _can _control the outcome to a certain extent by tweaking the events that precede it."

A feeling of unease began to knot its way inside Loki's chest though she did not want to consider why that would be, her steps slowing as the tapestries after Odin's belonged to Hela. A lot more of them were woven with crimson threads than Odin's. Sometimes the blood belonged to realms that she had conquered and sometimes it belonged to Hela as she died. There was a tapestry that struck Loki as the strangest of them all for in that Hela was not dressed as a would-be conqueror but as a queen smiling benevolently down at Loki. She froze before it, marveling at how different that smile made Hela appear from the woman that had forced them to destroy Asgard in a bid to stop her.

Noting her interest in the tapestry, Frigga returned to Loki's side.

"She looks so at peace," Loki murmured. "Why did this not come to pass?"

"Because of what happened next," Frigga said softly as she reached out and touched the tapestry. Before Loki's very eyes, the threads shifted and flowed together until a different image, a horrifying image took its place. The nine realms destroyed, Hela sitting atop a throne carved out of the skulls of all the species she had conquered and destroyed in her bid for… vengeance. Loki wasn't sure how she knew that, but it was almost instinctual for Loki to surmise that the scene depicted in the tapestry was a result of vengeance. "Assassins." The word was uttered solemnly as though it explained everything, and in a way, it did.

Nodding, Loki forced herself to move away and Frigga took that as her cue to lead on. Loki knew that the next set of tapestries would belong to Thor and it was an effort to not turn and stare at them. Nothing good would come out of knowing every possible way that her brother would or could have died. She did not need the additional fuel to torment herself with. It was hard enough fighting off the phantoms that dogged her steps every waking moment.

"This," Frigga whispered as she came to a stop in front of the shelves that held tapestries depicting Loki's futures. "This is what I wanted to show you."

Pushing back on the feeling of unease which had increased tenfold, Loki lifted her head. Looking at what they held, she couldn't help but gasp at the sheer number of tapestries hanging from the shelves stretching out into the inky darkness.

"W-What is this?" Loki stumbled back, her gaze darting from one image to the next, her heart thundering inside her chest at the scenes depicted within, the air suddenly not enough for her to breath. The inky darkness of the Void reach out for her with clawed hands shot through with lightning, rising from the very floor that supported the shelves. Unease that had begun as a trickle was now a river rushing towards Loki, threatening to drag her under a rising wave of panic. A truth that Loki had refused to acknowledge since the moment she had first lain eyes on the tapestry depicting Odin now stood before Loki, demanding to be recognized.

Try as she might, she couldn't tear her gaze away from the morbid depictions of her death, for every single tapestry before her showed her in only one state. Dead. There she was, frozen as a little Jotun babe when Odin had rejected her. And there she was, impaled on a Jotun ice-blade in Jotunheim, blue bleeding across her skin as Thor and his friends watched on in horror. And there… she was tied to a boulder, mouth sewn shut and limbs pulled apart in impossible angles as a snake dripped burning venom into skin that was flayed apart. And that one over there… Thanos grinned down at her lifeless body as she lay crumpled at his feet, her neck bruised and crushed as the Statesman burned around them.

Everywhere she looked, Loki was dead. In a thousand different ways in a thousand different lifetimes in a thousand different worlds. There was only even one end to her story in the tapestries that Frigga had woven. But the one tapestry that truly grabbed her attention wasn't the one where Loki was dead. No, it was the one where she had successfully destroyed Jotunheim after throwing Thor into the Void.

On shaky legs, Loki backed away unable to tear her gaze from the image of darkness reaching out to swallow her brother. Her bright, golden, shining brother smothered by the nothingness of the Void. She knew what would come next for him. Thor would land in Thanos's grasp but unlike Loki who was too weak to resist, her brother would keep on resisting, keep on fighting until the Mad Titan would decide he wasn't worth the trouble. In her mind's eye she could see it happen, the Titan grasping Thor by the throat, lifting him off the ground, Thor's legs uselessly kicking in the air, trying to find purchase as he grasped at the hand crushing his neck until with a final resounding crack, it would break and Thor would be tossed aside like a ragged doll.

"Loki."

_"Well, would you look at that, little brother__? Y__ou managed to kill Thor after all."_

"Loki."

A tiny part of Loki realized that although every other tapestry that she had noticed had depicted her own death in one manner or the other, that was the only one where she had lived. And Thor had died…

_"I suppose it comes down to one or the other in the end," _Hela said as she sauntered out from behind a pillar and leant against it, uncaring of the eternal flame that leapt out towards the nearest tapestry. _"Either you die a gruesome death at the hands of Thanos, or you will kill Thor and survive."_

"Loki, come back to me, love."

_"If you ask me, I'd bet on you surviving," _Hela continued conversationally, picking at a patch of fabric that had fused with her charred flesh. _"Want to know how I can be so certain?"_

Callused fingers grasped Loki's face and she was transfixed by Hela's wicked grin as her sister came close enough to whisper in her ear, _"Thanos is already__ in Knowhere __and Thor does not have you__ to offer as appeasement."_

"Loki!" a jolt of Frigga's magic stung Loki back into the present.

"I-I…"

"It's going to be okay, darling," Frigga murmured, cutting Loki's view of a thousand different could have beens as she grasped Loki's hands and pulled her to her feet.

"You're all dead because of me, and now, he too will die because of me," Loki whispered, eyes burning with unshed tears as she looked at the mother she had killed. Guilt fizzed in her chest like a burning toxin as the true impact of what she had doomed her only remaining family to hit her. Her gaze slid to the hands grasping her own and she wrenched away. "I am a curse, a poison that eats away everything it touches. I did not wish to die so I killed Laufey. And then I killed _you..._ _I_ killed Odin by exiling him and now… now I've killed Thor…" Turning away, Loki tried not to look at the proof of all her betrayals, breathing fast as a hysterical laugh bubbled up her throat. "Oh the irony is delicious. I was trying to keep him _alive_! I was trying to save his life and in my foolish attempts at keeping the last of House Odin safe, I shall be its undoing."

"Loki, look at me," mother said as she stepped closer, once again grasping Loki's hands, refusing to let Loki pull away. "You are a _gift, a blessing _from the Norns themselves."

"Don't you see it? I destroy _everything_ around me." Loki struggled to free herself without trying to hurt her mother who just would not let go. "If you don't let me… I-I… Why won't you understand? _I'm the reason you died, mother!"_

"No, Loki," those accursed words made Loki freeze. "I died because it was my time. It wasn't your fault."

"But I was the one who—"

"I do not need to know the details, my love," Frigga cut in as Loki's gaze slid past her to the ashen plain of Svartalfheim, where Loki lay sprawled on the ground in a pool of her own blood, alone and forgotten like the broken relic she was. "You needn't fret over something that is a long time in the future for me."

"In the future…" Loki choked on a laugh as her gaze darted to another tapestry. There she was, dead at the Grandmaster's hand, her flesh burning under the meltstick. Alone and forgotten, once again left behind to suffer the consequences of her treachery. Something like panic but visceral clawed on Loki's mind, her breaths coming shorter and shorter as infinites futures began to meld together.

"Loki."

There she was, embedded into the floor of Stark's tower, her body broken and bruised, barely even recognizable as Aesir after being smashed repeatedly by the green brute. Suddenly it wasn't the Hulk but Laufey standing there. And then it was Hela, the Grandmaster, the Other, Thor, Ebony Maw, Odin until each and every death that Loki suffered was ultimately at the hands of Thanos.

_"He's coming for you, little bother~" _Hela sang as mother forcefully turned Loki away from the tapestries.

"Loki, look at me," she ordered in a tone that brook no arguments and Loki found herself obeying. "There we go, now breathe. Come on, love, take in a breath. Now hold it in. Good good. Now let it out. Slowly. Good girl. Now once again, inhale." Loki mimicked her actions as Frigga breathed, loud and slow.

The panic clawing at the edges of her mind, gouging through her sanity slowly began to abate though there was a familiar seidr spreading through her veins, a formless spell working to sooth her emotions and calm her mind.

"It doesn't matter what I do," Loki said once again, her heart breaking at the tears that welled in Frigga's eyes.

"No, no, that's not true," Frigga repeated, her expression so earnest that Loki couldn't help but believe her. Mother's hands slipped down to grasp Loki's and she gasped at the blistered scars, calluses and cuts she could feel. Looking down, she could only see pale, smooth flesh but… a directed burst of magic dispelled the illusion placed on mother's hands. Loki's breath caught at the deep cuts in mother's fingers. Fingers that she knew mothers used to work the loom. Loki traced the length of a cut on mother's forefinger.

"You wove..." she breathed, struggling to grasp at just how much she must have done so for her hands to be in that state.

"I did, Loki," Frigga admitted. "I wove and I wove, trying to find a way to save you. A path that would not end in your death."

Loki looked back towards the shelves that had to hold at least ten times more tapestries then Odin, Thor and Hela's combined.

"It wasn't easy, finding the futures where you lived until an old age but…" Frigga trailed off.

"Is this one of them?" Loki whispered shakily. "Mother, tell me, is this future, _my _future one of them?"

"It can be," Frigga whispered in turn, her voice just as soft as Loki's. "The future is not set in stone and every action, every decision that we make affects the path moving forward. I cannot dictate your every action to ensure the outcome we want, however, I may be able to provide you with some clues."

"Such as?"

"You _will _need Hela by your side when you confront Thanos."

"Hela is dead, Mother."

"Loki, can the goddess of death truly be killed?" Frigga asked gently. "Find the soulstone and you will have your answers."

"Fath— Odin said that Hela drew her power from Asgard. Thor and I used Surtur to destroy our realm just so she couldn't begin her conquest of the universe anew. With Asgard gone, is her power really worth the risk of bringing her back?"

"Hela never wanted to conquer the universe. She only wanted one particular aspect of it."

An aspect of the universe… what could it be that the goddess with control over life and death itself would want—

"You would trust her with _that_?"

"Your father may not have trusted her with that power at the time of her sentencing but I believe in all of my children. Just as Thor came into his powers and you will soon begin to come into yours, so will your sister. There isn't much that the three of you together cannot achieve."

"I'm not sure there is much power to come in to with lies and mischief," Loki said while fighting to keep the bitterness out of her voice. The symphony belonging to the stones whispered in the back of her mind and she only half heard Frigga's reply.

"Oh but Loki, my dear sweet child, you are much more than a mere god of lies and mischief."

The symphony grew louder, signaling the end of her respite, as though whatever it was that Loki needed had already been delivered to her. Shoving aside the bitterness and regret that threatened to rise at the thought of leaving behind her mother, Loki did the only thing she had regretted not doing more of when Frigga had been alive. She closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around her mother and breathed in the scent of her perfume.

"I love you, Mother." She closed her eyes, trying to resist the tug of the stones' power even though it burned against her seidr. "I miss you and… I'm sorry."

With a mighty jerk, Loki was wrenched away from the Weavers Hall and sent tumbling through time and space. Times and Places went whizzing by, never stopping long enough for Loki to truly get her bearing and all too soon, she was thrust back into the moment where she had touched the time stone. Blue and Green energy intermingled around her and Strange in a complex dance, the songs of the two infinity stones taking on a tone of joy, like long lost siblings reuniting after eons of being kept apart. Power burnt in Loki's veins and across from her, she could see the same happening to Strange as his injuries knit back together in a way that had more to do with Time itself. His eyes glowed with the stone's power and when he spoke his voice rang with it too.

"We can't let that ship crash."

Fractals of green radiated outwards, rapidly aging and de-aging everything they touched.

"Conjuring a shield would be prudent," Loki replied and felt the power of Space echo within her words. Portals to other places and realms blinked in and out of existence within fractals of blue spreading out. Loki's attention was snatched by the view of an idyllic cabin, nestled within enormous trees with purple and orange leaves but it was gone the next moment.

"We should put away the stones first," Strange suggested, "as soon as time resumes, those aliens will notice their presence and come for us."

Loki looked around, noting for the first time that the world was frozen around them with Strange and herself being the only two being to still be moving.

"Agreed," Loki nodded, gathering as much of the chaotic energy that she could from their surroundings, letting it mingle with the power of space rushing through her veins, and ultimately channeling it into her seidr. "At the count of three?"

"One," Strange said by way of agreement and Loki witnessed the golden power of dimensional energy flare around the sorcerer, beginning to form a series of rapidly spreading mandalas above their heads.

"Two." Loki grasped Chaosmaker and channeled her seidr through it, strengthening and supplementing the sorcerer's shields.

"Three!" As one, they both concealed their respective stones and time resumed. The next moment, the Q-ship slammed into their shields with a mighty crack and Loki felt the drain on her seidr when the ship opened and Outriders poured out in a wave of gnashing teeth and claws to attack the barrier.

"We can't hold this indefinitely," Loki grunted. "When is the rest of your order arriving?"

"I didn't have a chance to call them in," Strange answered through grit teeth.

"Well I suggest you do that post-haste, unless you wish for all of Midgard to soon be overrun by those mindless beasts."

"While I see the urgency of our situation, is now really the time to exaggerate the threat?" Strange asked as he lowered a shaky hand to his pocket and withdrew a cellphone.

"Outriders spawn as they battle," Loki said. "The nest from that ship alone is more than enough to take over Midgard by the end of the day.

Suitably alarmed, Strange hurried the process of calling his assistant in the New York Sanctum and informing him of the threat.

"Stark, we need someplace isolated to channel the Outriders currently hovering above our heads," Loki took that time to call into her communicator.

"Can't you _poof_ them away?" Stark asked in a tone that suggested he was only half listening.

"I would have already done so had I the means to do so without attracting your opponents' attentions. Now, if you want to minimize casualties, I suggest you offer us a suitable place within the next minute or I will create an opening wherever _I _see fit."

"Four blocks to your west, there's a park which should be completely empty by now," Stark answered only a few moments later.

"Strange, create a portal to that location," Loki ordered the sorcerer, who only shook his head in turn as he put his phone away.

"I need to be able to visualize my location," said the second-rate.

"Seems as if I have to do everything myself," she snapped at Strange. Closing the distance between them, she grabbed his arm and teleported. "How exactly will your order arrive to help us if they cannot create portals?"

"The Order has other means available," Strange replied, struggling to get his bearing after the sudden displacement though Loki couldn't find it in her to feel bad. Not after what he had put her through during that unfortunate trip to locate Odin. She turned to survey their surroundings, finding them adequate for keeping the Outriders contained. Moving in a wide circle, she cast the strongest containment wards that she possessed the ability for without depleting her Seidr. She still needed some for the oncoming fight. "I'm going to create a weak spot in the shields above us. The Outriders will do the rest themselves, however, we still cannot let the ship fall into the city."

"I have set a contingent of Sorcerers on that task," said Wong as he strode out of the treeline, robes billowing behind him, as he was followed by a dozen others. He came to a halt next to Strange and eyed Loki with curiosity. "Friend of yours?" he asked the second-rate.

"More like a temporary ally," Loki spoke up, holding out her hand. "You may address me as Loptr."

Wong frowned at the name though he refrained from accusing her of anything. _Oh for Norns sake, how does everyone on this piece of dirt know that name? I haven't even used it in centuries!_

Thinking it best to distract them from her identity, Loki allowed part of her support shield above the park to crumble, noting with some internal glee how Strange's primary shield did not hold up under the Outriders' assault for more than three seconds, completely disregarding the second-rate's physical state when he had cast it.

The first of the Outriders broke through, gnashing teeth flashing in the air as it fell some fifty feet to the ground with a sickening crunch of exoskeleton. Uncaring of their broodling's fate, the rest followed, falling in a torrent of clawing limbs and snapping teeth, creating a tiny mound of broken bodies. Loki chanced a glance towards the Midgardians, making note of their disgust at the sight of the creatures that continue to fall until a point came that they merely tumbled down the mound of their dead broodlings.

Splitting Chaosmaker into two swords, Loki took a stance and launched herself at the oncoming creatures. Somewhere in the midst of golden sparks of Midgardian magic, blades and spikes of ethereal energy of the mirror dimension and her own seidr reaching out to embrace the chaos, Loki lost track of time, losing herself to the rhythm of battle. Of parrying, dodging and attacking and confusing the creatures with her blades and seidr alike. Though it did not seem to matter to the Outriders. Just as she had warned Strange, they spawned far quicker than their meager defenses could get rid of them.

Stuck in the heart of melee, Loki felt one of her containment wards weaken. It seemed as though the Outriders had made it past some of the Midgardian sorcerers. Unfortunately, Loki knew that if she were to abandon her position, even more would get away and spread in farther directions.

"Stark, I hope you and your minions are ready to contain the Outriders," she called into the communication device, "they are about to breach perimeter to the southwest."

"No can't do, Lokes. We've got our hands full," Stark grunted back. "Kid, what's the status on your end?"

"None of the people here seem to trust Cap and Widow enough to want to evacuate," the spider-child replied, sounding a little out of breathe. "I'm stuck trying to convince them to leave."

"You're going to have to figure out a way to keep them contained on your own— damn it! I have to go!" Loki thought she heard the little witch scream the android's name in the background just before Stark cut off.

Between bouts of fending off attacks, Loki assessed her surroundings and the state of Midgardian sorcerers coming to dreadful realization that although the mortals fought valiantly, they did not possess the numbers to fight off a literal hoard of creatures whose only purpose in existence was to spawn and kill. Even if they had succeeded in portaling away the Q-ship to Norns knew where, there was still a matter of all the Outriders that had made it to the ground and spawned a hundredfold since then. At this rate, Midgard would be lost before the next sunset. And with it, Thanos would get his hands on two more infinity stones…

_I suppose if things get bad enough, I can always grab the stone keepers and portal off planet. _Loki decided grimly as she started making her way to where she knew the containment was about to be breached. All around her, the air was filled with the inhuman growls of Outriders and the screams of dying sorcerers. She was halfway to her destination when a bolt of lightning shining with all the colors of the rainbow struck the ground in the heart of the hoard and Loki froze for a heartbeat. Eyes going wide, she whirled on her feet to where she knew the bolt had struck, having only enough air to breathe a single word.

"Thor…"

_**A/N: Sorry for being AWOL guys. This chapter gave me way too much trouble. I swear I rewrote that conversation between Frigga and Loki a gazillion times before I was happy with it. So I hope you guys enjoyed the fruits of my labor. :3  
Lemme know your thoughts in the reviews because I love reading and replying to each and every one of them even if it may take me a while to get around to it.**_


End file.
